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LONDOK

WALTON AND MABERLY,

UPPER GOWER STREET & IVY LANE.
Price Eigiiteenpence,

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IIMARY

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CAUfOffNIA

EDITED BT

DIOXTSIUS LAEDNEE, D.C.L.,

Formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and A«tronomy in University College, London.

ILLUSTRATED BT ENGRAVINGS OX WOOD.

YOL. II.

LONDON :
WALTON AND MABERLY,

UPPER GOWER STREET, AND IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1831.

LOAN STACK

LONDON !
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.

L37

CONTENTS.

COMMOH THINGS.— AIE.

PAGE

1. Air most necessary to existence. — 2. Respiration. — 3. Fresh air
necessary. — 4. Air is material. — 5. Its weight and momentum.
— 6. How weighed. — 7. The atmosphere. — 8. Its pressure. — 9.
Why bodies not crushed by it. — 10. Illustrated by a cupping-glass.
— 11. Compressibility. — 12. Elasticity. — 13. Elastic pressure. —
14. Varies with the density. — 15. Strata of atmosphere near
the surface of the earth and at greater elevations. — Diminished
pressure at great elevations. — 16. Anciently supposed to be an
element. — 17. Air a compound. — 18. Gases. — 19. Proportion of
the constituents of air. — 20. Azote or nitrogen. — 21. Oxygen gas.
— 22. Combustion. — 23. Its products. — 24. Carbonic acid. — 25.
Unfit for respiration. — 26. Impure air produced in wanning and
lighting. — 27. Ventilation of public buildings. — 28. Carbonic acid
in effervescing liquors. — 29. Is generated in all spontaneous
changes of dead matter. — 30. Choke-damp. — 31. Is diffused
through the atmosphere. — 32. Evolved in respiration. — 33. Vital
air. — 34. Air poisoned in crowded rooms. — 35. Necessity of
ventilation. — 36. Air not absolutely transparent or colourless . 1

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAP. I. — 1. Natural apparatus of internal communication in United
States. — 2. Canal navigation. — 3. Erie Canal. — 4. Extent of
canals. — 5. Total cost, and cost per mile. — 6. Extent of canals as
compared with population. — 7. River and coast navigation in
United States. — 8. Steam navigation on Hudson. — 9. Tables of
Hudson steamers. — 10. Beautifully finished machinery and
structure. — 11. Their great speed. — 12. Application of expan-
sive principle. — 13. Explosions on eastern rivers rare. — 14.
Description of paddle-boards and mode of working steam in
steamers of eastern rivers. — 15. Power of engines. — 16. Fares
reduced with increased size of vessels — Form and structure ot
Hudson steamers. — 17. Description of the navigation of that
river. — 18. Steam navigation of other American rivers. — 19.
Mississippi steam -boats. — 20. Cause of explosions. — 21. Mag-
nitude and splendour of boats. — 22. Extent of the navigation of
the Mississippi valley .17

376

v CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAP. II. — 1. Inland steam navigation. — 2. Table of sea-going steam-
ships.— 3. Towing river steamers. — 4. Water goods train. — 5.
Commencement of railways. — 6. Average cost of construction to
1849. — 7. Tabular statement of the railways to 1851. — 8. Their
distribution and general direction. — 9. New England lines. — 10.
New York lines.— 11. New York and Philadelphia.— 12 Penn-
sylvania lines. — 13. Great celerity of construction — tabular
statement. — 14. Extent of lines open and in progress in 1853.
— 15. Their distribution among the States. — 16. Average cost
of construction. — 17. Railways in central States. — 18. General
summary. — 19. Causes of the low comparative cost of construc-
tion.— 20. Method of crossing rivers. — 21. Modes of construction
— rails and curves. — 22. Engines. — 23. Greater solidity of con-
struction recently practised. — 24. Railway carriages. — 25. Ex-
pedient for passing curves 33

CHAP. III. — 1. Railways carried to centre of cities — Mode of turning
corners of streets. — 2. Accidents rare. — 3. Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh line. — 4. Extent and returns of railways. — 5. Traffic
returns. — 6. Western lines. — Transport of agricultural produce.
— 7. Prodigious rapidity of progress. — 8. Extent of common
roads. — 9. Railways chiefly single lines. — 10. Organisation of
companies and acts of incorporation. — 11. Extent of railways in
proportion to population. — 12. Great advantages of facility of
inland transport in the United States. — 13. Passengers not
classed. — 14. Recent report on the financial condition of the
United States railways. — 15. Table of traffic returns on New
England lines. — 16. Cuban railways. — 17. Recapitulation . 19

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

CHAP. I. — 1. Popular tendency to connect terrestrial events with
celestial phenomena. — 2. Popular opinions as to influences of
Comets. — 3. Explanation of Comets, their nature — attractions —
their shape, volume, and mass — tails — density — non-luminous.
— 4. Question discussed as to a Comet encountering the Earth,
and the result — Comet of 1832, of 1805 — Probabilities of such
an occurrence. — 5. Question discussed as to the temperature of
the seasons being aifected by Comets. — 6. Question discussed as
to the Earth passing through the tail of a Comet, and the
probable consequences. — 7. Suppositions adopted by some authors
as to Comets producing epidemic diseases — Comet of 1680 — Great
Plague of London — Comet of 1668 alleged to have produced a
remarkable epidemic among cats in Westphalia.— 8. Comet of
1746 — Earthquakes of Lima and Callao ascribed to it. — 9.
Various influences ascribed to particular Comets — Earthquakes
— Plagues — the success of the Turks under Mahomined II. .65

CHAP. II. — 10. The birth and death of heroes, &c. — 11. Questions
discussed as to whether the dry fog of 1783 or that of 1831 was
produced by the immersion of the Earth in the tail of a Comet.
— 12. Influences of atmospheric disturbances and currents in

CONTEXTS. v

PAGE

producing extraordinary effects on epidemic diseases — The
periodical wind called Harmattan from the interior of Africa. — 13.
Question discussed as to whether the Earth at any former epoch
has been struck by the solid nucleus of a Comet — Its consequences.
— 14. Questions discussed as to whether the geographical con-
dition of the Earth has ever been disturbed by the near approach
of a comet, and whether the Biblical Deluge can have been
produced by such a cause. — 15. Probability of the terrestrial
equilibrium being injuriously deranged by near approach of a
Comet reduced to nothing. — 16. Opinions of Laplace. — 17.
Curious phenomena of Biela's comet 81

COMMON THINGS.— WATER,

1. Water may be solid, liquid, or vapour. — 2. Colourless and tasteless.
— 3. Its weight. — 4. Expands by heat. — 5. Point of greatest
density. — 6. Freezing-point. — 7. Boiling. — 8. Evaporation. — 9.
Heat absorbed in evaporation. — 10. Superficial evaporation. —
11. Saturation of air by vapour. — 12. Process of drying. — 13.
Case of roads and paths. — 14. Drying linen. — 15. Wind promotes
drying. — 16. Water never naturally pure. — 17. Contains fixed
air. — 18. And other substances in solution — Hard water. — 19.
Soft water. — 20. Mineral springs. — 21. Filtration. — 22. .Filtering-
paper. — 23. Artificial filters. — 24. Water not absolutely colour-
less.— 25. How to obtain water absolutely pure. — 26. Rain
water nearly so. — 27. River water — Thames water. — 28. Water
not an element — Its composition. — 29. Methods of purifying it.
— 30. Distillation of water. — 31. Conversion of vapour into
water. — 32. Weight of vapour. — 33. Condensation. — 34. Dis-
tilling apparatus. — 35. Composition and decomposition. — 36.
Oxygen and hydrogen. — 37. Hydrogen. — 38. Fitted for balloons.
— 39. Inflammable. — 40. Water produced by combining oxygen
and hydrogen. — 41. Apparatus for this experiment. — 42. Com-
position of water. — 43. Analysis of water. — 44. By voltaic
current. — 45. By other methods. — 46. By potassium and sodium.
— 47. By iron 97

THE POTTEL'S ART.

CHAP. I. — 1. Antiquity and general estimation of the art. — 2. Its
materials and their treatment. — 3. Potter's wheel. — 4. Allusions
to the art found in ancient writers. — 5. Ancient drawings in
Theban catacombs. — 6. Processes of potters 1900 B.C. — 7. Homel-
and the potters of Samos. — 8. Ancient tombs containing pottery
excavated near Naples. — 9. Proofs of their antiquity. — 10*.
Campanian sepulchral chamber with pottery. — 11. German
sepulchres.— 12. Cup of Arcesilaus. — 13. Ancient Greek potters.
— 14. Chinese traditions of pottery. — 15. Chinese pottery found
at Thebes. — 16. Porcelain works of King Te Tching. — 17. Pro-
cesses practised there 113

vi CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAP. II. — 1. Processes of Chinese. — 2. Their materials. — 3.
Petungse and kaolin. — 4. Kneading and throwing. — 5. Ovens.
— 6. Majolica in Spain. — 7. Italian Lucca della Robbia. — 8.
Altar-screen by him. — 9. Process of fabrication. — 10. Produc-
tions of Italian potters. — 11. Royal presents. — 12. Decline of
the art in Italy. — 13. Pottery in France — Bernard de Palissy.
— 14. His character, persecution, and death. — 15. Palissy and
Henry III. in the Bastille. — 16. Style of his productions. — 17.
La belle Jardiniere. — 18. Origin of the Staffordshire potteries. —
19. Discovery of salt glaze. — 20. Messrs. Elers. — 21. Astbury
discovers the use of flints. — 22. Origin and character of Josiah
Wedgwood; 129

CHAP. III. — 1. Improvements effected by Wedgwood. — 2. General
commercial advantages attending the manufacture. — 3. History
of Chinese porcelain. — 4. Its first importation into Europe. —
5. Great plasticity of the material. — 6. Perfection of its forms.
— 7. Pagoda of Nankin. — 8. Forms of vases. — 9. Figure called
' ' pou-sa." — 10. Discovery of the material of porcelain in Europe.
— 11. Origin and history of Bottger. — 12. His labours in Saxony.
— 13. Anecdotes of his imprisonment. — 14. Is established at
Dresden. — 15. First results of his labours. — 16. White earth of
Schnorr. — 17. Discovery of Saxon kaolin. — 18. Establishment of
the royal manufactory at Meissen. — 19. Curious precautions to
ensure secresy. — 20. Anecdote of Brongniart. — 21. Death of
Bottger. — 22. Analysis of the Dresden paste. — 23. Style of the
Dresden porcelain. — 24. Grotesque figures. — 25. Secrets trans-
pire.—26. Ringler at Hochst.— 27. Paul Becker.— 28. Es-
tablishment of the Royal Bavarian manufactory. — 29. In other
German states. — 30. Invention of the Sevres pate tendre. — 31.
Its defects 145

CHAP. IV. — 1. Meaning of the epithet "tender" as applied to por-
celain.— 2. Qualities and value of this porcelain. — 3. Art of
making it not lost. — 4. Origin of the Sevres manufactory. 5.
Efforts to discover kaolin — Paul Hannong. — 6. Kaolin of Limoges
discovered. — 7. Anecdote of Madame Darnet. — 8. English
porcelain at Bow, Derby, and Worcester. — 9. Cornish china clay.
— 10. Properties of true porcelain. — 11. Stoneware. — 12. Cause
of translucency. — 13 Hard and tender porcelain distinguished. —
14. English tender porcelain. — 15. Mode of preparing the clay.
— 16. Statuary porcelain. — 17. Process of its fabrication. — 18.
Process of producing colours on porcelain. — 19. Coloured figures
on common ware ; press and bat printing. — 20. Distinctive
marks of the manufactories. — 21. Various recent applications
of the art .161

CHAP. V. — 1. Process of throwing. — 2. Turning. — 3. Moulding. —
4. Turning and moulding combined. — 5. Glazing. — 6. Bisque
firing. — 7. Ovens. — 8. Sevres ovens. — 9. Statistics of pottery . 177

CONTEXTS. Tii

COMMON THINGS.— FIRE.

PAGIi

Fire an ancient element. — 2. Combustion. — 3. Fuel. — 4. Carbon.
— 5. Hydrogen. — 6. Charcoal fire, — 7. Its effect on the air. — 8.
Experimental illustration of combustion of charcoal. — 9. Com-
bustion of hydrogen. — 10. Hovr the combustion is continued.
—11. Carbon burns -without flame.— 12. What is flame ?— 13.
Combustion of hydrogen produces water. — 14. All combustibles
produce carbonic acid and water. — 15. Carburetted hydrogen. —
16. Carbon renders flame white. — 17. Olefiant gas. — 18. Light
carburetted hydrogen.— 19. Fire-damp.— 20. Will-o1 -the- Wisp.
— 21. Experimental illustration. — 22. Heavy earburetted hy-
drogen.— 23. Pit-coal — 24. Coal-fire explained. — 25. Products
of its combustion. — 26. Its effect on the air. — 27. Wood-fuel. —
28. Combustibles used for illumination. — 29. Their effect on
the air. — 30. Construction of grates and chimneys. — 31 . Analysis
of a common coal-fire. — 32. It warms and ventilates. — 33.
Necessity for ventilation. — 34. Injurious effect of plants at night.
— 35. Effect of crowded and brilliantly lighted rooms. — 36.
Explanation of the burning of a candle. — 37. And of lamps . 193

COMMON THINGS.

AIR

1. Air most necessary to existence. — 2. Respiration. — 3. Fresh air neces-
sary.— 4. Air is material. — 5. Its weight and momentum. — 6. How
weighed. — 7. The atmosphere. — 8. Its pressure. — 9. Why bodies not
crushed by it. — 10. Illustrated by a cupping-glass. — 11. Compres-
sibility.— 12. Elasticity. — 13. Elastic pressure. — 14. Varies with the
density. — 15. Strata of atmosphere near the surface of the earth
and at greater elevations. — Diminished pressure at great elevations.
— 16. Anciently supposed to be an element. — 17. Air a compound. —
18. Gases. — 19. Proportion of the constituents of air. —20. Azote or
nitrogen. — 21. Oxygen gas. — 22. Combustion. — 23. Its products. —
24. Carbonic acid. — 25. Unfit for respiration. — 26. Impure air pro-
duced in warming and lighting. — 27. Ventilation of public buildings.

LABDKER'S MUSEUM OF SCIEXCE. B 1

No. 14.

COMMON THINGS — AIE.

— 28. Carbonic acid in effervescing liquors. — 29. Is generated in all
spontaneous changes of dead matter. — 30. Choke-damp. — 31. Is dif-
fused through the atmosphere. — 32. Evolved in respiration. — 33.
Vital air. — 34. Air poisoned in crowded rooms. — 35. Necessity of
ventilation. — 36. Air not absolutely transparent or colourless.

1. OF all common things, air is the most common. No space or
place is accessible to us that is not filled with it. It is of all
material wants that which, is most incessantly indispensable to
our existence. Food is an occasional want, an intermitting supply
is all that is needed. Clothing may in certain cases be dispensed
with, and habit may inure us to a deficiency of it. The want of
warmth must be extreme to become fatal. But the privation of
air, even for a brief interval, is attended with instant and certain
death.

Unlike other natural wants, our consumption of air is not volun-
tary. The action of the lungs is like the oscillations of a pendu-
lum. It is incessant, sleeping or waking, in sickness or in health ;
sitting, standing, or moving, it is maintained with a regularity
and continuity quite independent of the will. Its suspension is
the suspension of life.

Must we not then be prompted by a natural and irresistible
curiosity to obtain some acquaintance with a physical agent so
universal, so omnipresent, and so indispensable to our vitality ?

2. Air is the transparent, colourless, invisible, light, and atte-
nuated fluid with which we are always surrounded. It is drawn
into our lungs by the action called suction, and after remaining a
moment there, is forced o at through the mouth and nose by the
muscular compression ol the chest. This alternate action, by
which the air enters and leaves the lungs, is called respiration.
During the moment it rei nains in the lungs, it undergoes a certain
change, which we shall presently explain, in consequence of which,
when expired, it is not the same as that which was inspired. The
effect produced on the blood by this change is essential to the
maintenance of life.

The air which, thus changed, is expired, is unfit for respiration.
If, therefore, the same air be taken several times successively into
the. lungs, death must ensue.

3. The air around us, therefore, requires to be continually
changed, that which we expire being carried away and replaced
by fresh and pure air.

4. The apparent lightness of air, the freedom with which we
move through it, and its invisibility, led the ancients to imagine
that it was unsubstantial and immaterial, and hence the disem-
bodied souls of the dead came to be called spirits, from the word
spiritus, which signifies air.

2

WEIGHT OF AIR.

5. It is a great mistake, however, to imagine that air is desti-
tute of weight, that quality which is inseparable from whatever
is material. Light it undoubtedly is, but only by comparison.
Bulk for bulk, it is lighter than stone, earth, or water, or any.
other substance in the solid or liquid state. But light as it is, it
has a certain definite weight, and a quantity of it can be assigned
which will weigh many tons. The pressure produced by its weight
is under certain assignable circumstances quite enormous, and
when it is moved with a certain velocity its force is so irresistible
that trees are torn by it from their roots, the most solid buildings,
overturned and reduced to ruins, and devastation spread over vast
tracts of country.

Nothing can be easier than to show practically that air has
weight, and what that weight is.

6. If a glass flask, having the capacity of a cubic foot, be pro-
vided with a proper neck, furnished with a stop-cock, we shall be
able, by means of a well-constructed syringe, to extract from it
the air which it contains, and by closing the stop-cock, and
detaching the syringe, we shall have the flask void of air. Let it
be weighed in that state in a good balance. Let the stop-cock be
then opened so as to admit the air to fill the flask, and let it then
be weighed again. It will be found to weigh 1-291 oz. or 564-8
grains more than it did when void of air.

It follows therefore that a cubic foot of air weighs 564-8 grains.

Since the weight of a cubic foot of water is 997-125 oz., it
follows that, bulk for bulk, water is heavier than air in the pro-
portion of 997-125 to 1-291, that is, of 772£ to 1.

Since thirty-six cubic feet of water weighs a ton, it follows that
772£ times thirty- six cubic feet of air also weighs a ton.

It appears, therefore, that 27810 cubic feet of air will weigh
a ton.

7. When it is considered that the mass of air which taken
collectively is called the ATMOSPHERE, extends above us to the
height of more than fifty miles, it will easily be imagined that
the weight with which it presses on the surface of every object
exposed to it, must be very considerable. If, for example, we
take a square inch of level surface, it is clear that that square
inch must bear the weight of a column of air extending from
that surface to the top of the atmosphere. • It has been ascer-
tained by experiments, susceptible of the greatest precision,
(which we shall explain on another occasion) that this pressure
or weight amounts to about 15lbs., and that it is subject, from
time to time, to a variation not exceeding three quarters of a
pound.

8. It is a well known property of fluids, that any pressure which

s2 3

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

they exert, acts equally in all possible directions. Thus, if any
body be let down into the sea, the weight of the water, which is
above it, will press equally on its top, bottom, and sides. It is
very easy to demonstrate this by a simple experiment.

Let several empty bottles be carefully corked, and being loaded
with weights so as to sink in the water, the neck of one being
presented upwards, that of another downwards, another horizontal,
and the others oblique in various degrees, it will be found that
when they have been sunk to a certain depth, the corks will
be all forced into the bottles by the pressure of the surrounding
water, with which the bottles will be immediately filled, and
this will take place equally, and at the same time, with all the
bottles, in whatever directions the corks may be presented to the
water.

It is evident, therefore, that the pressure produced by the weight
of the incumbent column of water at any given depth is equally
propagated in all directions, and that a body, a fish for example,
or the body of a diver, sustains that pressure, not downwards
only, or on the upper surface of the body as might be at first
imagined, but equally on the under surface, the sides, and, in
a word, on every part of the body in contact with the water.

Now this equal transmission or propagation of pressure in all
directions, is not an exclusive property of water, but is common
to all substances whatever in the fluid state. Air possesses
fluidity in even a greater degree, if possible, than water, being
more freely mobile, and air accordingly transmits freely and
without diminution in all directions whatever any pressure
which it receives. The stratum of air in which we live is under
the pressure, as has just been stated, of the incumbent column
of air extending iipwards to the limits of the atmosphere, this
pressure amounting to 15 Ibs. on each square inch. A body,
therefore, exposed to the contact of this air is subject at all parts
of its surface, upper, under, and lateral, to this pressure ; and the
total amount of the pressure by which it is affected will be expressed
in pounds weight by the number obtained by multiplying the
number of square inches in its entire surface by 15.

The body of a man of average size has a surface of about 2000
square inches. The total pressure which it sustains from the
surrounding air is therefore 15 X 2000, or 30000 Ibs., or nearly
fourteen tons !

9. It may seem wonderful that a force so enormous, acting on
all parts of the surface of the body, should not crush it and
actually destroy its delicately constructed organs. This, however,
is prevented by the perfect equilibrium of pressure outwards and
inwards, produced by the property of fluids just explained, in
4

PRESSURE AND COMPRESSIBILITY.

virtue of which they transmit freely, and luidiminished, the
pressure in all directions. The fluids which fill the entire vascular
system are exposed, as well as the surface of the body, to the
pressure of the atmosphere, which enters the lungs and all the
cavities and open parts of the organs. These fluids transmit that
pressure to all the inner parts of the body, so that the skin and
integuments are pressed by them outwards by a force exactly
equal to that with which the air presses the external surface of the
skin inwards. These outward and inward pressures are neces-
sarily always equal, because, in fact, they are one and the same
pressure, i.e., that of the air, the pressure on the external surface
acting inwards, being the immediate action of the air, and the
pressure of the internal fluids acting outwards being the same
pressure of the air transmitted by those fluids to the inside of the
skin and integuments.

10. That this outward pressure, transmitted by the fluids which
fill the organs under the skin, is really at all times in operation,
and that it is only counteracted by the immediate pressure of the
external air upon the skin, is rendered conspicuously manifest
in the well-known surgical operation of cupping. In that pro-
cess the open mouth of the cupping-glass being pressed upon the
skin so as to exclude all communication with the external air,
the air within the cup is withdrawn, or partially withdrawn, by
means of a syringe attached to the glass. The moment the skin
within the glass is relieved from even a small part of the pressure
of the external air by this means, the outward pressure of the
fluids under the skin begins to take effect, being no longer resisted ;
it swells up the skin within the glass, and when the skin thus
dilated is punctured with the lancet, the blood is propelled from
it by the force of the pressure of the fluids under the skin acting
outwards.

11. The free transmission of pressure in all directions is a pro-
perty which air has in common with water and other liquids. It
has, however, another quality eminently characteristic, which is
not found in liquids, or any other form of matter. The property
we refer to is unlimited compressibility.

Let a tube A B (fig. 1) be provided, open at one end A, and closed
at the other B, and let a solid plug p be made to fit it air-tight.
Let an opening, governed by a stop-cock, be provided at c. When
the plug is inserted at A, the air inclosed by it in the tube will be
in its natural state, provided the stop-cock be open, and the
plug will be pressed upon it by the amount of the atmospheric
pressure. If we suppose the plug to have the magnitude of a
square inch, this pressure will be fifteen pounds.

The stop-cock c being closed, let the plug P be pressed down

5

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

with a force of fifteen pounds. If the tube were filled with water
instead of air, the plug would in that case maintain its position,
for the water would not yield in any degree to the pressure.
But the case is quite otherwise with air.
The moment the pressure is applied, the
plug will descend in the tube, squeezing or
compressing the air into a less space, and it
will continue to descend until the air is
compressed half its original bulk. There
the compression will cease, and the plug
will remain at half its original distance
from the bottom B of the tube, as in fig. 2.
Thus, if the original height of the plug
p above the bottom of the tube were twelve
inches, the plug being pressed downwards
only by the atmospheric pressure, that is,
by 15 Ibs., its height, when pressed by
15 Ibs. more, that is, by 30 Ibs. in all, will
be six inches. The air, which is compressed
into twelve inches by 15 Ibs., is therefore
compressed into six inches by 30 Ibs., the
volume of the air being diminished in the
exact proportion in which this compressing
c force is augmented. p

This experiment may be carried farther
with a like result. If the piston be forced
down with a weight of 30 Ibs., in addition
to the atmospheric pressure, which is 15 Ibs.,
the whole compressing force will be 45 Ibs.
In this case, the compressing force being augmented
in the proportion of three to one, the space into which
the air is compressed will be decreased in the same
ratio, and the plug p will descend to four inches from
_ the bottom B.

In general, therefore, the space into which air will be squeezed
by any force will be less in exactly the proportion in which the com-
pressing force is increased, it being well understood, nevertheless,
that the original pressure of the external air, amounting to 15 Ibs.
per square inch, is to be included in the compressing force.

This property of unlimited and uniformly regular compres-
sibility is one of the essential and characteristic properties of air,
being one in which no other form of matter participates. Liquids
are in general, for all practical purposes, absolutely incompressible.
Some solids are compressible in a certain slight degree, but not at
all in the general and regular way in which air is compressible.

ELASTICITY.

12. Air has another characteristic and highly important quality,
called ELASTICITY, which, like its compressibility, is unlimited
and uniform.

Let us suppose that the plug p in the tube A B, fig. 1, Fig. 3.
instead of being pressed down, is drawn upwards, the
tube being long enough to allow it all the necessary play,
as in fig. 3. If, in that case, water had filled the tube
under the plug, a void space would remain between the
surface of the water and the plug. In short, the ele-
vation of the plug would be followed by no sensible
change in the space occupied by the water. But when
the tube contains air, the result is quite otherwise. In
that case, when the plug is drawn, upwards, the air
which before filled the tube between the plug and the
bottom now expands, and swells so as still to fill the
increased space left open to it by the elevation of the
plug, and this expansion will go on without any practical
limit, to whatever height the plug may be elevated.

This capability of swelling without limit into aug-
mented dimensions when relieved from the conditions
which confine it is called ELASTICITY. Like COMPBJESSI-
BILITY, it is a characteristic property in which no other
form of matter participates. Liquids are for all practical
purposes inelastic. Some solid bodies possess a certain
elasticity, but not at all identical in its character or laws
with the elasticity of air above described.

13. It has been explained that air in its common state
exercises a pressure of 15 Ibs. on each square inch of
surface with which it is in contact. It exercises this
pressure equally whether it is in communication with
the external atmosphere or not. In the case of the tube
A B and plug P, the air in the tube, before the introduc-
tion of the plug, pressed on the surface of the tube with
a force of 15 Ibs. per square inch, because it sustained
that pressure from the incumbent weight of the atmo-
sphere, and transmitted that pressure freely and undimin-
ished to the inner surface of the tube. But when the plug
is introduced, all communication with the external air B

is cut off, and nevertheless the included air still presses on the
surface of the tube with the same force. As this pressure cannot
arise from the incumbent weight of the external air, all com-
munication with which is intercepted by the piston, it is due
altogether to the elasticity of the air confined within the tube.

The piston inserted in the tube in this case is therefore subject
to the action of two equal forces. The WEIGHT of the external air

7

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

presses it downwards with a force of 15 Ibs., and the ELASTICITY of
the air confined within the tube presses it upwards with an equal
force of 15 Ibs. The piston is thus held in equilibrium, having
no tendency either to rise or fall in the tube.

Indeed, the very fact that the piston inserted in the tube A B
has no tendency to descend into it, and to compress the air under
it, although it is urged downwards by the air above it with a force
of 15 Ibs., proves that the air below it must iirge it upwards by a
force exactly equal ; since, if it were urged upwards by any less
force, it would be pressed down by this excess of the force of the
external air, and if it were urged upwards by any greater force
than 15 Ibs., it would ascend with the excess of this upward force.

Air, therefore, in its natural and usual state, has an elastic force
of 15 Ibs. per square inch, so that when it is shut up in any vessel
or other envelope, and cut off from all communication with the
external air, it will press on every square inch of the inner surface
of such envelope with a force of 15 Ibs.

14. This elastic force increases in the same proportion as the
space in which the air is confined is diminished by compression,
and it decreases in the same proportion as the space into which it
is allowed to expand is increased. Thus, if we suppose that when
the air fills twelve inches of the tube A B, fig. 1, it has an elastic
force of 15 Ibs., it will have an elastic force of 30 Ibs. when it fills
six inches of the tube ; 45 Ibs. when it fills four inches ; 60 Ibs.
when it fills three inches, and so on. And in like manner when
it is allowed to expand so as to fill twenty-four inches, its elastic
force will be reduced to 7£ Ibs. ; when it expands to thirty-six
inches, the elastic force will only be 5 Ibs. , and so on.

15. The stratum of air which rests on the surface of the earth,
and in which the organised tribes that inhabit the earth live,
derives its pressure, elasticity, and density from the weight, of the
whole mass of the atmosphere which rests upon it. It must, there-
fore, be evident, that if we ascend to greater elevations, leaving
below us a certain stratum of the atmosphere, and having above
us a proportionally less quantity of air, the weight of the incum-
bent air being less, the pressure, elasticity, and density of the
stratum which surrounds us will be proportionally less. And we
find this actually to be the case. At great heights on mountain
chains, such as the Pyrenees or the Alps, the air is very sensibly
rarefied. It is lighter, and exercises a much less pressure. In
like manner, persons who ascend to great elevations in balloons find
much inconvenience from the thinness of the air. The fluids
confined within the body are much less resisted, certain organs
become dilated, and the effect of a cupping-glass is occasionally pro-
duced, attended with bleeding at the nose, and singing in the ears.

3

AIR ON MOUNTAINS.

16. The ancients imagined that air was a simple substance which,
entered more or less into the composition of bodies in general, and
hence they called it one of the elements ; the others being in their
theory of physics, water, earth, and fire. Better informed now,
we know that neither air, water, nor earth, are simple or ele-
mentary substances, and that fire is not a substance at all, but a
physical effect due to the sudden and large production of heat
which attends the chemical combination of certain substances.
Thus the ancient elements are not elements at all.

But to return to air, the more immediate object of our attention
at present.

17. Air — meaning by that term the air of the atmosphere, the
air we breathe, the air through which we behold the firmament,
the air whose currents carry our commerce over the ocean from
land to land — is a compound or mixture made up of two extremely
different kinds of air.

18. As there are many sorts of air having extremely different
qualities and properties, although they are alike in appearance,
being all invisible, transparent, colourless, light, compressible, and
elastic, it has been found convenient to call them by the general
name gas (derived from the Saxon word gast], and to limit the
application of the term "air" to that particular compound or
mixture of gases which constitutes the atmosphere.

19. The erroneous notion that air was a simple and elementary
substance prevailed until the close of the last century, when
Lavoisier, the celebrated French philosopher, who was one of the
most illustrious of the founders of modern chemistry, showed that
it was a mixture of two different gases in definite proportions,
called oxygen, and azote or nitrogen.

A hundred cubic inches of air is a mixture consisting of 80
cubic inches of azote, and 20 of oxygen. The result of the most
exact analyses differs from this proportion by a minute fraction,
which, though not unimportant in certain respects, need not here
embarrass the reader, who will do well to fix in his memory this
proportion of 80 to 20.

There are many ways in which this constitution of atmospheric
air may be made manifest, some of which, however, involve prin-
ciples which would not be comprehended without a more extensive
knowledge of chemistry than is expected from our readers in
general. The following demonstration will, however, it is hoped,
be understood without difficulty.

Let 100 cubic inches of common air, and 40 cubic inches of the
gas called hydrogen, be introduced into a closed fiask. If an electric
spark be transmitted through this mixture, which may be easily
done, an explosion will take place with a considerable development

9

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

of heat. When the flask has been cooled, and its contents examined,
it will be found to contain eighty cubic inches of azote and a
quantity of water, whose weight is exactly equal to the combined
weights of twenty cubic inches of oxygen and forty cubic inches
of hydrogen.

The inference from this experiment is, that, tinder the influence
of the electric spark, one of the constituents of the air has entered
into combination with the hydrogen, and that their compound is
water ; and since the air has lost twenty cubic inches, it follows
that this portion of it is a gas which has the property of combining
with twice its own measure of hydrogen, and thus forming water.
The gas which possesses this property is called oxygen.

The experiment here described is attended with two results,
both of which have high importance. It proves first that 100 cubic
inches of common air consists of eighty cubic inches of azote, and
twenty of oxygen ; and, secondly, that twenty cubic inches of
oxygen mixed with forty of hydrogen will be converted into water
by passing through them the electric spark.

It now remains to explain the chief properties of the two gases,
by the mixture of which, in the proportion of eighty to twenty, or
four to one, common air is formed.

20. Azote, or nitrogen, which thus forms four-fifths of the air
we respire, is characterised by negative rather than positive
qualities. It has neither colour, taste, nor odour. A candle or
lamp is immediately extinguished when introduced into it. 'No
animal which requires respiration can live in it.

Although this inability to support life by respiration is not pecu-
liar to this particular gas, it has nevertheless given to it the name
azote, from two Greek words signifying the negation of life.

This gas is not inflammable.

The destructive influence of this gas on animal life does not
arise from any poisonous or injurious quality in the gas itself, but
altogether from the absence of oxygen.

This gas, when compressed by the same force, is very little
different in weight from common air. A hundred cubic inches
of it weigh 30^- grains, while 100 cubic inches of common air
weigh 31 grains.

21. The other constituent of atmospheric air, called oxygen, is
characterised by many very remarkable properties.

Like azote, this gas has neither colour, taste, nor odour. Bulk
for bulk, and under equal pressure, it is a little heavier than com-
mon air, 100 cubic inches weighing 34-j- grains.

The properties which are most conspicuously characteristic of
this gas are those which relate to combustion and respiration.

22. Combustion, or burning, is a phenomenon which consists of
10

CONSTITUENTS OF AIR.

the large and sudden evolution of heat and light arising from
the combination of a class of bodies, called combustibles, with
oxygen.

If a piece of charcoal be heated to redness, it will immediately
begin to combine chemically with the oxygen of the atmosphere.
A great heat and a vivid light are produced in this combination,
and the product of it is a compound gas, composed of oxygen and
carbon, and called carbonic acid.

In like manner, if sulphur or phosphorus be similarly heated,
similar effects will ensue.

But since it is evident that these phenomena thus produced in
common air arise exclusively from the presence of oxygen, which
nevertheless forms only a fifth part of that air, it may naturally be
inferred that if the same combustibles were placed in an atmo-
sphere containing a greater portion of oxygen, and still more if
they were placed in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, the phenomena
would be far more vivid.

And this is accordingly found to be the case.

All substances, which are capable of burning in common air,
burn with far greater intensity and splendour in an atmosphere of
pure oxygen. A piece of wood on which the least spark of light
is visible, which would be spontaneously extinguished in common
air, will burst into flame the moment it is plunged in a jar of
pure oxygen. A piece of charcoal, heated to redness at its point,
will in like circumstances enter into vivid combustion, emitting
the most brilliant scintillations, until it altogether disappears.
Phosphorus similarly treated burns with a light too splendid
to be looked at without pain. If the extremity of a coil of steel
wire be heated to redness, and plunged in such a jar, the wire
will be rapidly burnt, emitting in like manner streams of brilliant

These substances severally disappear in the process of combus-
tion, and before science had attained to its present state of advance-
ment it was supposed that they were destroyed. It is now
known that the destruction of matter, in any form, and by any
natural process, is as impossible as its creation. It is a physical
maxim of high generality and undoubted truth that nothing but
the immediate operation of the Divine will can either augment or
diminish the quantity of matter composing the world. Whenever
ponderable matter, therefore, seems to disappear, we are called
upon to trace it, to discover its hiding-place, and to explain the
nature and the cause of the change which produces its disappear-
ance. In the present case nothing is easier.

23. Let us suppose, for example, that a piece of lighted charcoal
of sufficient magnitude is plunged in a closed glass jar filled with

11

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

pure oxygen gas. The vivid combustion of the charcoal will take
place, and will be continued for a certain time, when it will cease,
becoming continually less vivid until it is extinguished. If the
gas now contained in the jar be examined by the usual chemical
test, it will be found that it is no longer oxygen. A taper plunged
in it will be instantly extinguished. An animal placed in it will
die. Its weight will be greater than that which it had previously
to the experiment, and if the unburnt residue of the charcoal be
weighed it will be found to have lost precisely the weight which
the gas has gained.

In a word, the oxygen gas has been converted into another
and heavier gas, called carbonic acid, and this has been accom-
plished by a portion of the charcoal entering into chemical com-
bination with it, that combination being attended with the
evolution of heat and light, which characterises the phenomenon
of combustion or burning.

24. Now it is most desirable to become familiar with the
character and properties of this gas, for it plays a most important
part in numberless processes and phenomena natural and artificial,
which we encounter daily and hourly in the common experience
of life.

Like all other gases, carbonic acid in its ordinary state is
invisible, colourless, compressible, and elastic. It has a pungent
smell and acidulous taste. If reduced to the temperature of
melting ice and compressed with a force of 36 atmospheres, that
is of 36 X 15, or 540 Ibs. per square inch, it is reduced to a liquid,
and when reduced to 180° below zero of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
it is frozen and becomes solid.

25. This gas is altogether unfit for respiration. When breathed
pure it produces a violent spasm of the organ of the throat called
the glottis, which prevents the gas from entering the lungs. If,
however, it be mixed with so much common air as to prevent it
from producing this spasm, it may enter the lungs, and in that
case it acts on the system as a narcotic poison.

26. All substances used for warming rooms, such as coal,
coke and wood, and all such as are used for lighting them, such
as oil, tallow, wax, consist chiefly of carbon combined in small
proportions with other constituents. The chief product of the
combustion of all such substances is therefore carbonic acid.
When coal, or other fuel, is burnt in a grate or stove, the
carbonic acid is carried away by the chimney or flue, and there-
fore does not pollute the air of the room. But this is not the
case with the carbonic acid produced by the candles and lamps
used to illuminate the room. All the carbonic acid produced by
them mixes with the atmosphere of the room and poisons it to

12

COMBUSTION— CARBONIC ACID.

a proportionate degree. As this gas is evolved in the flame
ef the lamps and candles in a heated and highly expanded state,
it will ascend to the ceiling of the room, and will float in a
stratum there for a certain time. If means are not provided for
its escape it will soon descend into, mix, with, and poison the air
of the room, and render it injurious to the health of those who
breathe it.

27. In theatres and other large buildings, which are sometimes
illuminated by a central chandelier suspended from the ceiling,
an opening is provided over the chandelier, which permits the
escape of the carbonic acid, exactly as the chimney of a fireplace
or the flue of a stove receives that which is produced by the
combustion of the fuel. In all cases whatever, the healthiness of
apartments would be greatly increased if similar openings were
provided for the escape of the carbonic acid produced by lamps,
candles, and other causes.

28. The effervescence of soda water, champagne, ale, beer, and
other similar drinks is produced by carbonic acid, which is fixed
in them, and suddenly liberated when relieved from the confining
pressure by the withdrawal of the cork. The agreeable pungency
of these liquors is in a great degree due to the presence of this
carbonic acid, which being allowed to escape by exposure in the
air, or by leaving the bottle uncorked, the drink becomes stale
and flat.

AYater commonly contains more or less carbonic acid fixed in
it. This being expelled by the process of boiling, cold boiled
water acquires a peculiarly insipid taste, owing to the absence of
the acid gas.

It appears that the reception of carbonic acid gas into the stomach
is not attended with the same deleterious effects as are produced
by its introduction into the lungs. There are few forms of food
or drink which do not include more or less of it.

In general, fermentation is attended with the evolution of car-
bonic acid. The gas ejected from dyspeptic stomachs affected by
flatulency is carbonic acid.

29. This gas is abundantly generated in all the spontaneous
changes which attend the corruption of dead animal and
vegetable matter. In autumn, after the fall of the leaf in woods,
forests, and gardens, and in all places where dead leaves are
allowed to accumulate, the air is more or less impregnated with
carbonic acid, which, by reason of its weight, remains long collected
in the lower strata of the air, rendering it unhealthy.

30. This gas is often collected and retained in the bottom of old
wells, where it is known under the name of choke-damp. An
animal which descends in such a well dies.

13

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

It sometimes issues from the earth, being evolved in some sub-
terraneous process. Examples of this are presented in the
case of the celebrated Grotto del Cane in Italy, and at Pyrmont,
in Westphalia. The former place takes its name from the cruel
and now useless experiment of showing that a dog let down
into it dies.

31. Carbonic acid is so much heavier than air, that it may be
decanted like a liquid from one vessel to another. It is, however,
a mistake to suppose that in consequence of its relative weight,
it will permanently sink to the lowest strata of the atmosphere
on which it happens to be placed, on the same principle that
water would sink to the bottom of oil. Gases in general are
subject to a physical law, in virtue of which they mingle one
with another when they are in contact, and become at length
uniformly diffused through each other, notwithstanding these
differences of weight.

A small proportion of this gas is always diffused through the
atmosphere, being the produce of innumerable natural processes
which take place on the surface of the earth. This is not to be
regarded, however, as a constituent of common air, any more than
the mud of the Mississippi or the Tiber, or the salt of the ocean, is
to be considered as a constituent part of pure water.

32. Carbonic acid is evolved in large quantities by respiration.
The oxygen, which forms one-fifth part of the common air which
is inspired in respiration, is absorbed by the blood before it enters
the arterial system, and the same blood on issuing from the
venous system dismisses a corresponding quantity of carbonic
acid, which is expired at the mouth and nostrils. Thus, while
the air inspired is a mixture of azote and oxygen, the air expired
is a mixture of azote and carbonic acid.

The effect, therefore, of respiration on the surrounding air is
precisely the same as that of a lamp or candle. In both cases the
oxygen constituent disappears, and is replaced by carbonic acid.

It is evident, therefore, that it is the oxygen constituent of
common air which is the means of supporting animal life by a
specific effect which it produces upon the blood which absorbs it,
and which carries it through the arterial and venous systems,
where it is converted into carbonic acid, and discharges a variety
of functions necessary to the maintenance of life.

33. It is for this reason that oxygen is often called VITAL AIK.

34. In apartments or buildings where persons are crowded
together in large numbers, more especially when they are illu-
minated by artificial light, there is therefore an enormous and
rapid production of this noxious gas, as well by respiration as
by the lamps, candles, or gas-burners used for illumination.

14

EFFECTS OF RESPIRATION.

Although in large public buildings which are habitually thus
filled, proper means of ventilation are often provided, this is not
the case in general in private residences, where such assemblies
are only occasional. Hence it happens that large parties, balls,
and other social entertainments given in private houses are
extremely injurious to the health. Multitudes are crowded
together in brilliantly-lighted rooms. The respiration, the
exhalation from the skin produced by an elevated temperature
and by the exercise of dancing, and the combustion of vast
numbers of candles, lamps, and gas-lights, evolve carbonic acid in
large quantities, which, having no means of escape, accumulates
until the company becomes painfully sensible of its ill-effects on
respiration. Relief is then sought by opening one or more
windows or doors, by which currents of fresh air are let in, and
the foul air drawn out. If the air thus admitted were of a proper
temperature, this palliative of the evil might be admitted to be
partially efficient ; but the air thus introduced is usually of a
temperature from twenty to forty degrees lower than that of the
room. The persons exposed to these sudden cold currents, more
especially females, having their highly heated skins and open
pores extensively uncovered, receive a chill, by which the integu-
ment contracting drives back into the blood the fluids which ought
to have been permitted to escape by cuticular transpiration.
Hence arise numberless diseases, rheumatisms, colds, fevers, and
in more cases than is ever known or acknowledged, premature
and ultimate death.

35. It will be apparent from these considerations how much it
behoves architects, builders, and proprietors to provide proper
expedients in the erection of private residences for the efficient
ventilation of rooms.

36. We have stated that air is colourless and transparent, and
this is practically true not only of common air, but of gases
generally, when they are exhibited in such moderate quantities as
are usually submitted to observation or experiment. Strictly
speaking, however, air is not absolutely transparent or absolutely
free from colour.

When a fluid is very faintly coloured, its peculiar hue is only
perceptible when a considerable depth or thickness of it is sub-
mitted to view. If a tapering glass, such as those used for
champagne, be filled with pale sherry or other liquor of a like
colour, the peculiar colour of the liquid will be distinctly enough
perceived at the top of the glass, when the eye views a certain
thickness of it ; but the colour becomes fainter and fainter
towards the point of the cone, where it is scarcely perceptible.
If a glass tube of small bore be dipped in the liquid, and, the

15

COMMON THINGS — AIR.

finger being applied at the upper end to stop it, it be raised, the
liquid which will be suspended in the tube will appear as
transparent and colourless as water. It cannot be doubted,
nevertheless, that the liquid in the tube has the same colour as
the liquid in the glass. The colour is not perceived only because
the quantity in the tube is too small to reflect sufficient colour to
produce a sensible effect on the eye.

The atmosphere is in the same circumstances. The colour
reflected even from a considerable volume of it is too faint to be
perceptible. Thus the air which fills a room, or which intervenes
between the eye and the buildings, trees, and other objects
around us, appears quite transparent and colourless, and we see
all such objects distinctly through it in their proper colours.
But when, in the daytime, we look up through fifty or sixty
miles height of air, illuminated by solar light, we find that a
strong and decided tint of blue is perceived. This azure, which
in the absence of clouds forms the celestial vault, belongs not to
anything which occupies the regions of the universe in which the
heavenly bodies are placed, but to the vast mass of air through
which these bodies are seen.

To perceive this peculiar colour of air, however, it is not
necessary that so vast a mass should be presented to the eye.
Distant mountains appear bluish, not because that is their colour,
but because it is the hue of the aerial medium through which we
look at them. As we approach them, the quantity of the inter-
vening air being diminished, this bluish tint is no longer perceived,
and they appear with their proper colours.

1(5

SEW YORK HARBOUR,

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY

IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTEE I.

, Natural apparatus of internal communication in United States. —
2. Canal navigation. — 3. Erie Canal. — 4. Extent of canals. — 5. Total
cost, and cost per mile. — 6. Extent of canals as compared with popu-
lation.— 7. River and coast navigation in United States. — 8. Steam
navigation on Hudson. — 9. Tables of Hudson steamers. — 10. Beauti-
fully finished machinery and structure. — 11. Their great speed. —
12. Application of expansive principle. — 13. Explosions on eastern
rivers rare. — 14. Description of paddle-boards and mode of working
steam in steamers of eastern rivers. — 15. Power of engines. — 16. Fares
reduced with increased size of vessels — Form and structure of
Hudson steamers. — 17. Description of the navigation of that river. —
18. Steam navigation of other American rivers. — 19. Mississippi
steam -boats . — 2 0 . Cause of explosions . — 2 1 . Magnitude and splendour
of boats. — 22. Extent of the navigation of the Mississippi valley.

LARDNER'S MUSEUM OP SCIENCE. c 17

No. 15.

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

1. No quarter of the globe presents a natural apparatus of
internal communication so stupendous as that which the
European settlers found at their disposal on the North American
continent.

This immense tract, included between the Atlantic and the
Rocky Mountains on the east and west, the great chain of lakes
extending from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario on the north,
and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, is divided into two districts
by the ridge of the Alleghanies, which traverses it in a direction
north and south. The western division consists of the vast valley
drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, a territory greater in
superficial extent than Western Europe. The eastern district
consists of that portion between the Alleghany ridge and the
Atlantic, falling towards the ocean and drained by innumerable
rivers, navigable for vessels of greater or less burthen, and run-
ning generally eastward.

Provided with such means of water communication, it might
have been expected that a population thinly scattered over an area
so extensive, and engrossed by the exigencies of incipient agri-
culture, would have continued for ages contented with means of
transport afforded them on so vast a, scale, without having
recourse to the resources of art.

It is, however, the character of man, and more especially of
Anglo-Saxon man, never to rest satisfied until he renders the gifts
of nature, however munificent, ten times more fruitful by his
industry and skill ; and it will be presently seen to what a pro-
digious extent the enterprise of the population of the United
States has improved these means of inland transport.

I. CANAL NAVIGATION.

2. The spectacle of a machinery of commerce so imposing in
magnitude and power, and so remarkably co-extensive with the
vastness, the fertility, and the mineral wealth of the territory of
which this emigrant people found themselves possessors, only pro-
voked their ambition to rival the enterprise of the parent country,
and to import and naturalise its improvements and its arts. Their
independence was scarcely established before the same resources of
art and science which ages had not been more than sufficient to
develop in Britain were invoked ; and a system of artificial com-
munication was undertaken, and finally executed, on the new
continent, for which, all things considered, there is no parallel
in the history of civilisation.

Immediately after the acknowledgment of the independence of
the American colonies by England in 1783, several companies
were formed in the two principal states of the Union, those of
18

CANAL NAVIGATION.

York and Pennsylvania, for the purpose of constructing a
system of canals. These enterprises were accordingly com-
menced, but on a scale too limited for the attainment of the
ultimate objects ; and as the United States advanced in com-
mercial prosperity, more extensive plans were adopted. In
1807, the senate charged the Secretary of State, Mr. Galatin, to
prepare a project for a general system of intercommunication by
canals, based upon the geographical character of the territory of
the Union.

A system of artificial water-communication was accordingly
projected, which, with some modifications, was at a later period
adopted and carried into execution.

These projects, however, suffered an interruption from the
renewal of the war in 1812 ; and it was not until five years later
that the vast works were commenced, the result of which has
been a system of inland navigation which is without a rival in any
country in the world.

3. On the anniversary of the declaration of independence cele-
brated the 4th July, 1817, the commencement of the great line of
canal connecting the Hudson with Lake Erie was inaugurated.
The river Hudson presented a navigable communication for vessels
of a large class from New York to Albany. The object of this
line of canal was to open a water-communication between Albany
and the northern lakes, so as to connect, by continuous water-
communication, the North- Western States with the Atlantic.

In less than eight years this work was accomplished by the
state of New York, with its exclusive resources.

That state alone executed and brought into operation the largest
canal in the world. As first constructed, the Erie canal, with its
branches, cost 2,600000Z. sterling ; but its magnitude and pro-
portions being still found inadequate to the exigencies of a con-
tinually increasing traffic, its enlargement was decided upon in
1835, and it was finally completed, at a cost of upwards of
5,000000?. sterling. The total length of this canal is 363 miles,
and its cost of construction per mile was therefore about 13700Z.

Meanwhile, the other states of the Union did not remain
inactive. Pennsylvania especially rivalled New York in these
enterprises, and became intersected with canals in all directions.
In short, these works were undertaken to a greater or less extent
in most of the Atlantic and some of the Western States ; and the
American Union now possesses a system of internal artificial
water-communication amounting to nearly 4500 miles, executed
with a degree of skill and perfection rarely surpassed by any
similar works constructed in the states of Europe.

4. According to M. Michel Chevalier, whose work on this

02 19

LOCOMOTION BY EIVER AND KAILWAY.

subject supplies most voluminous and valuable details,* the extent
of canals which were in operation in the United States on
January, 1, 1843, was 4333 miles. There was a further extent
projected, but not executed, amounting to 2359 miles.

5. The total cost of executing the canals which were completed
was, according to M. Chevalier, 27,870964?., being at the average
rate of 6432?. per mile.

Since the date of these returns considerable extension has been
given to the system of canal navigation by the opening of new
lines and the increased length of former ones, and it is probable that
the actual extent of artificial water-communication now in use in
the United States considerably exceeds 5000 miles. The average
cost of executing this prodigious system of water-roads was at the
rate of 6432?. per mile, so that 5000 miles would have absorbed a
capital of above 32,000000?.

6. This extent of canal transport, compared with the population,
exhibits in a striking point of view the activity and enterprise
which characterise the American people. In the United States
there is a mile of canal navigation for every 5000 inhabitants,
while in England the proportion is a mile to every 9000 inhabit-
ants, and in France a mile to every 13000. The ratio, therefore,
of this instrument of intercommunication in the United States is
greater than in the United Kingdom, in proportion to the
population, as 9 to 5, and greater than in France in the ratio
of 13 to 5.

II. RIVER NAVIGATION.

7. The river navigation of the United States is on a scale com-
mensurate with the extent of their territory. The division of the
country east of the Alleghanies, forming the Atlantic States, is
drained by a vast number of rivers, of the first and second class,
all navigable for vessels of considerable burthen, the principal of
which are the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Con-
necticut, the Potomac, the James, the Eoanoke, the Savannah,
and, to the southwards, the Atamala and the Alabama.

The western division is drained by the Mississippi and its
hundred tributaries, navigable for vessels of great tonnage for
several thousands of miles.

Besides the internal communication supplied by rivers, pro-
perly so called, a vast apparatus of water transport is derived from
the geographical character of the extensive coast, stretching for
about four thousand miles, from the Grulf of St. Lawrence to the

* " Histoire et Description des Voies de Communication aux Etats Unis,
et des Travaux d'Art qui en dependent," par Michel Chevalier. Paris,
1840—1843.
20

EIVER NAVIGATION.

delta of the Mississippi, indented and serrated in every part with
natural harbours and sheltered hays, fringed with islands, forming
sounds, throwing out capes and promontories, which inclose arms
of the sea, in which the waters are free from the roll of the ocean,
and which, for all the purposes of internal navigation, have the
character of rivers and lakes. The lines of communication,
formed by the vast and numerous rivers, are completed in the
interior by chains of lakes, presenting the most extensive bodies
of fresh water in the known world.

8. Whatever may be the dispute maintained among the his-
torians of art as to the conflicting claims for the invention of steam
navigation, it is an incontestable fact that the first steam-boat
practically exhibited for any useful purpose, was placed on the
Hudson to ply between New York and Albany in the beginning of
the year 1808. From that time to the present, this river has been
the theatre of the most remarkable series of experiments on loco-
motion on water ever recorded in the history of man.

The Hudson rises near Lake Champlain, the easternmost of the
great chain of lakes or inland seas which extend from east to west
across the northern boundary of the United States. The river
follows nearly a straight course southwards for two hundredtand
fifty miles, and empties itself into the sea at New York. The
influence of the tide is felt as far as Albany, above which the
stream begins to contract. Although this river, in magnitude and
extent, is by no means equal to several others which intersect the
States, it is nevertheless rendered an object of great interest by
reason of the importance and extent of its trade. The produce of
the state of New York, and that of the banks of the lakes Ontario
and Erie, are transported by it to the city ; and one of the most
extensive and populous districts of the United States is supplied
with the necessary imports by its waters. A large fleet of vessels
is constantly engaged in its navigation; nor is the tardy but
picturesque sailing vessel as yet excluded by the more rapid
steamer. The current of the Hudson is said to average nearly
three miles an hour ; but as the ebb and flow of the tide are felt
as far as Albany, the passage of the steamers between that place
and New York may be regarded as equally affected by currents in
both directions. The passage, therefore, whether in ascending or
descending the river, is made in the same time.

This river is navigable by steamers of a large class as far as
Albany, nearly one hundred and fifty miles above New York.

Attempts have been made, but hitherto without much success,
to push the navigation a few miles higher, as far as the important
town of Troy. The impediments arising however from the
shallowness of the river appear to be so serious, that Albany has

21

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

continued, and probably will continue, to be the limit of steam
navigation in this direction.

The steam navigation of the Hudson is entitled to attention,
not only because of the immense traffic of which it is the vehicle,
but because it forms a sort of model for most of the rivers of the
Atlantic States. This navigation is conducted, as will be seen, in
a manner and on a principle altogether different from that which
prevails on the Mississippi and its tributaries.

In the steam- vessels used on these rivers, no other strength or
stability is required than is sufficient to enable them to float and
bear a progressive motion through the water. Not having to
encounter the agitated surface of an open sea, they are supplied
with neither rigging nor sails, and are built exclusively with
a view to speed. Compared with sea-going steamers, they are
slender and weak in their structure, with great length in pro-
portion to their beam, and a very small draft of water.

The position and form of the machinery are affected by these
circumstances. Without the necessity of being protected from a
rough sea, the engines are placed on the deck in a comparatively
elevated situation. The cylinders of large diameter and short
stroke, almost invariably used in sea-going ships, are rejected in
these river boats, and the proportions are reversed, — a compara-
tively small diameter and a stroke of great length being adopted.
It is but rarely that two engines are used. A single engine,
placed in the centre of the deck, drives a crank placed on the axle
of the enormous paddle-wheels. The great magnitude of these
latter, and the velocity imparted to them, enable them to perform
the office of fly-wheels, and to carry the engine through its dead
points with but little perceptible inequality of motion. The length
of stroke adopted in these engines supplies the means of using the
expansive principle with great effect.

The steamers which navigate the Hudson are vessels of great
magnitude, splendidly fitted up for the accommodation of passen-
gers ; and this magnitude and splendour of accommodation have
been continually augmented from year to year to the present time.

9. In the following table (p. 23) we have given the dimensions of
nine steamers which were worked on the Hudson previously to 1838.

Since the date of these returns, considerable changes have been
made in the proportion and dimensions of the vessels navigating
this river ; all these changes having a tendency to augment their
magnitude and power, to diminish their draft of water, and to
increase the play of the expansive principle. Increased length
and beam have been resorted to with great success. Vessels of
the largest class now draw only as much water as the smallest
drew a few years ago : 4ft. Gin. is now regarded as the maximum.

HUDSON STEAMERS.

I

S

1

t

I

|

„«

jl

?

g

2

£"

>»

c

5

o«

Names.

Q

§

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o

"3

ga

ft

£j

•S

,d

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B

-££

0

g£

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£J

g

P.

&
B

a

1

£3

3

1

1

&

J

1

«

1

i

1

a.

ft.

ft.

ft.

ft

in.

in.

it.

Dewit Clinton .

230

28

5-5

21

13:7

36

1

65

10

29

1

Champlain

180

27

5-5

22

15

34

2

44

10

27-5

I

Erie . . .

180

27

5-5

22

15

34

2

44

10

27-5

North America .

200

30

5

21

13

30

2

44-5

8

24

i

Independence .

148

26

1

44

10

—

Albany .

212

26

24-5

14

30

1

65

19

Swallow . .

233

22-5

3-75

24

11

30

1

46

27

Rochester

200

25

3-75

23-5

10

24

1

43

10

28

Utica . . -

200

21

3-5

22

9-5

24

1

39

10

Providence

180

27

9

—

—

1

65

10

—

Lexington . .

207

21

—

23

9

30

1

48

11

24

Xarragansett .

210

26

5

25

11

30

1

60

12

—

i

Massachusetts . 200

29-5

8-5

22

10

28

2

44

8 26

Rhode Island . 210

26

6-5

24

11

30

1 60

11121

In the following table we have exhibited the dimensions and
other particulars of nine of the most efficient of the more recently
built steamers plying on the Hudson and its collateral streams ;
and by a comparison of this with the former table, it will be seen
to what an extent the dimensions and efficiency of these vessels
have been increased.

DIMENSIONS OF VESSEL. 1

IXGIXE.

PADDLE-WHEEL.

.

•s

.j

j

|

1

2

Name of Vessel

a

*o •

r

-

R

1

£

fe|

~

° §

Ij

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PH

f4

o

V£

"o a

^

o ^4

3

^

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!

i

!

1

Ji

!

I"0

5

i

I

1

ft.

ft. in.

ft. in.

in.

ft.

ft. in.

ft in.

in.

Isaac Newton .

333

40 4

10 0

81

12

184

39 0

12 4

32

Bay State .

300

39 0

13 2

76

12 21|

38 0

10 3

32

Empire State

304

39 0

13 6

76

12! 211

38 0

10 3

32

Oregon

305

35 0

—

72

11 18

34 0

11 0

28

Hendrik Hudson

320

35 0

9 6

1050

72

Hi 22

33 0

11 0

33

C. Vanderbilt .

300

35 0

11 0

1075

72

12 21

35 0

9 0

33

Connecticut . .

300

37 0

11 0 —

72

13 21

35 0

11 6

36

Commodore

280

33 0

10 d —

65

11 22

31 6

9 0

33

New World . .376

35 0

10 0 —

76

15 18

44 6

12 0

36

Alida . . ,286

28 0

9 6

—

56

12 24|

32 0110 0

32

23

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

10. It is not only in dimensions that these vessels have under-
gone improvements. The exhibition of the beautifully finished
machinery of the English Atlantic steamers did not fail to excite
the emulation of the American engineers and steam-boat pro-
prietors, who ceased to be content with the comparatively rude
though efficient structure of the mechanism of their steam-boats.
All the vessels more recently constructed are accordingly finished
and even decorated in the most luxurious manner. In respect of
the accommodations which they afford to passengers, no water-
communication in any country in the world can compare with
them. Nothing can exceed the splendour and luxury of the fur-
niture. Silk, velvet, and the most expensive carpeting, mirrors
of immense magnitude, gilding and carving, are used profusely in
their decorations. Even the engine-room in some of them is lined
with mirrors. In the Alida, for example, the end of the room
containing the engine is composed of one large mirror, in which
the movements of the highly-finished machinery are reflected.

11. The new and largest class of steamers are capable of
running from twenty to twenty-two miles an hour, and make, on
an average, eighteen miles an hour. These extraordinary speeds
are obtained usually by rendering the boilers capable of carrying
steam from forty to fifty pounds pressure above the atmosphere,
and by urging the fires with fanners, worked by an independent
engine, by which the furnaces can be forced to any desired extent.

It is right to observe here that this extreme increase of speed is
obtained at a disproportionately increased consumption of fuel.
When the speed is increased, the space through which the vessel
must be propelled per minute is increased in the same proportion :
and, at the same time, the resistance which the moving power has
to overcome is augmented in the proportion of the square of the
speed. Hence, the effect to be produced by the moving power per
minute, is increased by two causes: first, the actual resistance
which it has to overcome is augmented in the ratio of the square
of the speed ; and, secondly, the space through which the moving
power has to act against this resistance in each minute is
increased in the ratio of the speed. Thus, the total expenditure
of moving power per minute will be augmented in the proportion
of the cube of the speed.

Let us suppose the speed to be increased, for example, from
eighteen to twenty-one miles an hour : the power to be expended
per minute to produce this effect must be increased in the ratio of
the cube of 18 to the cube of 21 ; or, what is the same, in the ratio
of the cube of 6 to the cube of 7, that is, in the ratio of 216 to
343, or as 3 to 5 very nearly.

Hence, if the furnaces could be worked with equal economy, an
24

HUDSON STEAMEKS.

increased consumption of fuel per hour would be necessary in the
proportion of 3 to 5 ; but the waste incurred by urging the
blowers so as to produce a sufficiently vivid combustion is so
irivat, that it is practically found that the consumption of fuel is
increased in a much higher ratio than that which results from the
increased resistance, and indeed in some cases that the increase .of
three or four miles an hour on eighteen miles will cause nearly
triple the consumption of fuel.

12. Much of the efficiency of these engines arises from the
application of the expansive principle ; but to this there has been
hitherto a limit, owing to the inequality of the action of the piston
when urged by expanding steam on the crank. When the steam
is cut off at less than half-stroke, the force of the piston is
diminished before the termination of the stroke to less than one
half its original amount. This inequality is aggravated by the
relative position of the crank and connecting rod, the leverage
diminishing in nearly the same proportion as the power of the piston
diminishes. On this account it has not been found generally
practicable to cut off the steam at less than half-stroke.

13. It must be observed, in relation to the navigation of these
eastern rivers, that the occurrence of explosions is almost unheard-
of. During the last ten years, not a single catastrophe of that
kind has occurred on them, although cylindrical boilers ten feet
in diameter, and composed of plating -j^ths of an inch thick,
are commonly used with steam of fifty pounds pressure above
the atmosphere.

14. It will be seen by the table given above, that the paddle-
wheels used on these rivers have extraordinary magnitude.
There is nothing particular in their construction. The split
paddle-board, which was adopted about ten years since, has been
discontinued, and has given way to the simple and continuous
paddle-board. These boards, however, are generally placed alter-
nately at greater and less distances from the centre, somewhat like
a break-joint. Wooden spokes, with cast-iron centre pieces, are
generally adopted.

The steam is universally worked with expansion, the valves for
its admission and emission being moved independently of each
other. A separate engine is generally provided for driving the
blowers, and a cylindrical fan-blower is employed for each boiler.
Some of these blowers are ten feet in diameter, being driven by a
crank placed on their axle, which receives its motion from the
small independent engine.

lo. The great power developed by these river engines is due,
not so much to the magnitude of their cylinders, as the pressure
of steam used in them. Some of the most recently constructed

25

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

boats have cylinders seventy-six inches in diameter, and fifteen
feet stroke. The steam has forty pounds pressure in the boiler,
and is cut off at half-stroke. The wheels, which are forty-five
feet in diameter, make sixteen revolutions per minute. The speed
of the circumference of the wheel will therefore be twenty-five
miles an hour ; so that, if the speed of the boat be twenty miles an
hour, we have the difference, five miles, giving the relative move-
ment of the edge of the paddle-boards through the water.

To ascertain the power developed by these engines, let us suppose
the mean effective pressure on the piston, taking into account the
degree of vacuum produced by the condenser, and supposing the
steam to be cut off at half-stroke, to be 40 Ibs. per square inch, the
area of the piston 4536 square inches, and the stroke 15 feet; the
piston moves through 30 feet during each revolution of the wheels ;
and since 16 revolutions take place per minute, we shall find the
effective force developed by the piston by multiplying its area,
4536, by twice the length of the stroke, which is 30, and by 16,
which is the number of revolutions per minute. This product
multiplied by 40, the number of pounds effective pressure per
square inch, gives 87,091200 Ibs. raised one foot high per minute
as the power developed by the engine. This is equivalent,
according to the ordinary mode of expressing steam power, to
2,640 horse power.

Whatever allowance, therefore, may be made for friction, &c.,
it is clear that the effective power thus obtained must be greater
than anything hitherto executed on water.

The increase of the dimensions of these vessels and their
machinery has been attended with a greatly augmented economy
of fuel.

On comparing the Hendrik Hudson, for example, with the Troy,
a vessel formerly well known, plying between New York and
Albany, it has been found that when the speed of the former is
reduced to an equality with that of the latter, the trip between
New York and Albany being performed in the same time, the
former consumed thirteen tons of coal while the latter consumed
twenty ; yet the displacement of the Hendrik Hudson, owing to
its increased dimensions, is nearly twice that of the Troy.

The ease with which these vessels of extraordinary length and
beam and small draft move through the water is very remarkable.
The results of their performance show that the resistance per
square foot of immersed midship section is not perceptibly in-
creased by the increased length of the vessel, and the consequently
augmented surface and friction. This anomaly has not been
explained, but it is certain that the increased length does not
diminish the effect of the moving power in any perceptible degree.
26

HUDSON STEAMERS.

16. Practical evidence of the economy arising from this increase
of power and dimensions is supplied by the fact that the pro-
prietors of the Hudson steam-boats reduced their tariff for
passengers, as well as for freight, as they increased the size of
their vessels.

Previously to 1844 the lowest fare from New York to Albany, a
distance of 145 miles, was 4s. 4d. ; at present the fare is 2s. 2d. ;
and for an additional sum of the same amount the passenger can
command the luxury of a separate cabin. When the splendour
and magnitude of the accommodation is considered, the magnifi-
cence of the furniture and accessories, and the luxuriousness of
the table, it will be admitted that no similar example of cheap
locomotion can be found in any part of the globe. Passengers
may there be transported in a floating palace, surrounded with
all the conveniences and luxuries of the most splendid hotel, at
the average rate of twenty miles an hour, for less than one-sixth of
a penny per mile !

It is not an uncommon occurrence during the warm season to
meet persons on board these boats who have lodged themselves
there permanently, in preference to hotels on the banks of the
river. Their daily expenses in the boat are as follow : —

*. d.
Fare 22

Separate bed -room 22

Breakfast, dinner, and supper . . . .66

Total daily expense for board, lodging, attendance,

and travelling 150 miles at 20 miles an hour . 10 10

Such accommodation is, on the whole, more economical than an
hotel. The bed-room is as luxuriously furnished as the hand-
somest chamber in an hotel or private house, and is much more
spacious than the room similarly designated in the largest packet
ships.

To obtain an adequate notion of the form and structure of one
of the first-class steam-boats on the Hudson, let it be supposed
that a boat is constructed similar in form to a Thames wherry, but
above 300 feet long and 25 or 30 feet wide. Upon this, let a
platform of carpentry be laid, projecting several feet upon either
side of the boat, and at stem and stern. The appearance to the
eye will then be that of an immense raft, from 250 to 350 feet long,
and some 30 or 40 feet wide. Upon this flooring let us imagine
an oblong rectangular wooden erection, two stories high to be
raised. In the lower part of the boat, and under the flooring just
mentioned, a long narrow room is constructed, having a series of
berths at either side, three or four tiers high. In the centre

27

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

of this flooring is usually, but not always, enclosed an oblong,
rectangular space, within which the steam machinery is placed, and
this enclosed space is continued upwards through the structure
raised on the platform, and is intersected at a certain height above
the platform by the shaft or axle of the paddle-wheels.

These wheels are propelled, generally, by a single engine, but
occasionally, as in European states, by two. The paddle-wheels
are usually of great diameter, varying from 30 to 40 feet, accord-
ing to the magnitude of the boat. In the wooden building raised
upon the platform, already mentioned, is contained a magnificent
saloon devoted to ladies, and to those gentlemen who accompany
them. Over this, in the upper story, is constructed a row of small
bed-rooms, each handsomely furnished, Avhich those passengers
can have who desire seclusion, by paying a small additional fare.

The lower apartment is commonly used as a dining or breakfast-
room.

In some boats, the wheels are propelled by two engines, which
are placed on the platform which overhangs the boat at either side,
each wheel being propelled by an independent engine ; the wheels,
in this case, acting independently of each other, and without a
common shaft or axle. This leaves the entire space in the boat,
from stem to stern, free from machinery. It is impossible to
describe the magnificent coup d'ceil which is presented by the
immense apparent length when the communication between them
is thrown open. Some of these boats, as has been already stated,
are upwards of three hundred feet long, and the uninterrupted
length of the saloons corresponds with this.

This arrangement of machinery is attended with some practical
advantages, one of which is a facility of turning, as the wheels,
acting independently of each other, may be driven in opposite
directions, one propelling forwards and the other backwards, so
that the boat may be made to turn, as it were, on its centre.
Although, from the great width of the Hudson, no great difficulty
is encountered in turning the longest boat, yet cases occur in which
this power of revolution is found extremely advantageous.

Another advantage of this system is, that when one of the two
engines becomes accidentally disabled, the boat can be propelled
by the other.

The general appearance of the Hudson steamers is represented
in the annexed engraving of the " Iron Witch."

17. No spectacle can be more remarkable than that which the
Hudson presents for several miles above New York. The skill
with which these enormous vessels, measuring from three to four
hundred feet in length, are made to thread their way through
the crowd of shipping, of every description, moving over the face
28

HUDSON STEAMERS.

of this spacious river, and the rare occurrence of accidents from
collision, are truly admirable. In a dark night these boats run at
the top of their speed through fleets
of sailing vessels. The bells through
which the steersman speaks to the
engineer scarcely ever cease. Of
these bells there are several of diffe-
rent tones, ind'cating the different
operations which, the engineer is
commanded to make, such as stop-
ping, starting, reversing, slackening,
accelerating, &c. At the slightest
tap of one of these bells, these
enormous engines are stopped, or
started, or reversed by the engineer,
as though they Vere the plaything
of a child. These vessels, proceeding
at sixteen or eighteen miles an hour,
are propelled among the crowded
shipping with so much skill as
almost to graze the sides, bows, or
sterns of the vessels among which
they pass.

The difficulty attending the evolu-
tions by a vessel such as the Xew
World, for example, one hundred
and twenty-five yards long and
twelve yards wide, may be easily
imagined ; and the promptitude and
certainty with which an engine whose
pistons are seventy-six inches in
diameter, and whose stroke is five
yards in length, is governed must be
truly surprising.

18. The navigation of the other
rivers of the Atlantic States differs
in nothing from that of the Hudson
and its collateral branches, except in
the extent of their traffic and the
magnitude and power of the steamers.
The engines, in all cases, are con-
structed on the condensing prin-
ciple ; and although steam of forty
or fifty pounds above the pressure of
the atmosphere is frequently used, it is worked expansively, and

89

LOCOMOTION' BY EIVER AND RAILWAY.

a good vacuum is always sustained behind the piston by means of
the condenser.

19. The steam navigation of the Mississippi is conducted in a
manner entirely different from that of the Hudson and the eastern
rivers. Every one must be familiar with the lamentable accidents
which happen from time to time, and the loss of life from explosion
which continually takes place in those regions.

These accidents, instead of diminishing with the improvements
of art, appear rather to have increased. Engineers, disregarding
the heart-rending narratives continually published, have done
literally nothing to check the evil ; and it may be almost said to
be a disgrace to humanity, that the legislature of the Union has
not ere this interposed its authority to check abuses, which are
productive of such calamities.

riSSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT.

In a Mississippi steam-boat the cabins and saloons provided for
the accommodation of the passengers, though less magnificently
furnished, are as spacious as those already described in the boats
on the Hudson. They are, however, erected on a flooring or
platform, six or eight feet above the deck of the vessel. Upon this
deck, and in the space under the cabins and saloons allotted to the
passengers, are placed the engines, which are of the coarsest
structure. They are invariably worked with high-pressure steam
without condensation ; and in order to obtain that effect, which, in
the boats on the Hudson, is due to the vacuum, the steam is worked
at an extraordinary pressure. I have myself frequently witnessed
boilers of the most inartificial construction worked with steam of
the full pressure of 120 Ibs. per square inch; but more recently
this pressure has been increased, the ordinary working pressure
30

MISSISSIPPI STEAMERS.

being now 150 Ibs., and I am assured, on good authority, that it is
not unfrequently raised to even 200 Ibs. (The boilers are cylindrical,
of large diameter, and of the rudest kind. When returning flues
are constructed in them, the space left is so small, that the
slightest variation in the quantity of water they contain, or in the
trim of the vessel, causes the upper flues to be uncovered, and the
intense action of the furnace in this case soon renders them red-
hot, when a frightful collapse is almost inevitable. The red-hot
iron, no longer able to resist the intense pressure, gives way, the
boiler explodes, and the scalding water is scattered in all direc-
tions, often producing more terrible effects than even the fragments
of the boiler which are projected around with destructive force.

20. Another frequent cause of explosion in these boilers is the
quantity of mud held in suspension in the waters of the Mississippi
below the mouth of the Missouri. As the water in the boiler is
evaporated, the earthy matter which it held in suspension remains
behind, and accumulates in the boiler, in the bottom of which it is
at length collected in a thick stratum. This produces effects
similar to those which take place in marine boilers, in consequence
of the deposition of salt. This earthy stratum collected within the
boiler being a non-conductor, the heat proceeding from the furnace
is interrupted, and, instead of being absorbed by the water, is
accumulated in the boiler-plates, which it ultimately renders red-
hot. Being thus softened, they give way, and the boiler bursts.
The only preventive remedy of this catastrophe is, to blow the
water out of the boiler from time to time, before a dangerous
accumulation of mud takes place, in the same manner as marine
boilers are blown out to prevent the accumulation of salt. The
engine-drivers and captains, however, rarely attend to this process.
They are too intent upon obtaining speed, and, to use their own
phrase, " going a-head." They do not hesitate to endanger their
own lives and those of the passengers, rather than allow themselves
to be outrun by a rival boat.

Not only the Mississippi, but the Ohio, the Missouri, the Illinois,
the Red River, and, in a word, all the tributaries of the Father
of Rivers, are navigated for many thousands of miles by this
description of boats, worked with the same reckless disregard of
human life.

21. The magnitude and splendour of these boats is little, if at
all, inferior to those of the Hudson. They are, however, constructed
more with a view to the accommodation of freight, as they carry
down the river large quantities of cotton and other produce, as
well as passengers, to the port of New Orleans. Many of these
vessels are three hundred feet and upwards in length, and are
capable of carrying a thousand tons freight, and three or four

31

LOCOMOTION BY EIVER AND RAILWAY.

hundred deck passengers, besides the cabin passengers. The
traffic in goods and passengers of the entire extent of the immense
valley of the Mississippi is carried by these vessels, except that
portion which is floated down by the stream in a species of raft
called flat-boats.

22. This line of steam-navigation is continued up the Mississippi,
branching east and west along its great tributaries. The Ohio
carries it eastwards as far as Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. A canal
connects the Ohio at Cincinnati with Lake Erie. The navigation
of the Upper Mississippi is continued by the Illinois river to a port
near Lake Michigan, with which it is connected by a canal
extending to Chicago, on the western shore of that lake. Here
commences the great chain of lake steam-navigation, which
extends across the northern division of the States, traversing
Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and being continued
along the St. Lawrence, to Montreal and Quebec. The lakes are
connected by canals.

By the Erie canal, connecting the lake of that name with the
head of the Hudson navigation at Albany, the circuit of navigation
round the United States is completed.

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY

IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTEE II.

1. Inland steam navigation. — 2. Table of sea-going steam-ships. —
3. Towing river steamers. — 4. "Water goods train. — 5. Commence-
ment of railways. — 6. Average cost of construction to 1849. —
7. Tabular statement of tlie railways to 1851. — 8. Their distribution
and general direction. — 9. New England lines. — 10. New York lines.
11. New York and Philadelphia. — 12 Pennsylvania lines. — 13. Great
celerity of construction — tabular statement. — 14. Extent of lines
open and in progress in 1853. — 15. Their distribution among the
States. — 16. Average cost of construction. — 17. Railways in central
States. — 18. General summary. — 19. Causes of the low comparative
cost of construction. — 20. Method of crossing rivers. — 21. Modes of
construction — rails and curves. — 22. Engines. — 23. Greater solidity
of construction recently practised. — 24. Railway carriages. — 25. Ex-
pedient for passing curves.

1. NOTWITHSTANDING the facilities for coast navigation which
are offered along the Atlantic shores from New York southwards,
successful efforts have been directed to establish a parallel inland
LARIMER'S MUSEUM OP SCIENCE. D S3

No. 17.

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

communication by the Potomac and the Hudson. A line of inland
steamers is established between the Potomac and New York by
Chesapeake Bay, the Delaware, the Chesapeake and Delaware
canal, the Delaware and Rariton canal, and the Rariton river, and
by these means the same line of communication is extended to the
shores of New England and Long Island Sound.

A project is introduced, and likely to be carried into effect, for
enlarging the Great Erie canal, so as to admit of steamers.
When this shall be effected, the entire extent of the States, from
Washington, by New York, Albany, the great Northern Lakes,
and the Mississippi, to New Orleans, will be surrounded by a con-
tinuous chain of inland steam-navigation. The importance of this
internal communication in the event of a war must be apparent.

The form and structure of these river-steamers, as described in
general terms in the last chapter, will be more easily understood

Fig. 2.

by figure 1, which represents a cross section of the hull with
one-half of the platform, which is placed upon it, and which

supports the upper cabins
and saloons. This hull is
constructed with a perfectly
flat bottom and perpendi-
cular sides, and is rounded
at the angles. At the bow
or cutwater they are made
very sharp.

The split paddle-wheel,
which until very lately was
exclusively used in these
boats, is represented in
fig. 2, and is formed as
if by the combination of
two or more common
paddle-wheels, placed one
outside the other, on the
same axle, but so that
the paddle-boards of each

CONSTRUCTION OF RIVER-STEAMERS.

may have an intermediate position between those of the adjacent
one, as represented in fig. 2.

The spokes, which are bolted to cast-iron flanges, are of wood.
These flanges, to which they are so bolted, are keyed upon the
paddle-shaft. The outer extremities of the spokes are attached to
circular bands or hoops of iron, surrounding the wheel ; and the
paddle-boards, which are formed of hard wood, are bolted to the
spokes. The wheels thus constructed, sometimes consist of three,
and not unfrequently four, independent circles of paddle-boards,
placed one beside the other, and so adjusted in their position that
the boards of no two divisions shall correspond.

2. Although the subject of this tract is limited to inland trans-
port, it will not be without interest to exhibit here some particulars
of the progress made in the United States in sea steam-navigation.
With this view we have given, in the following table, (p. 36), the
dimensions and power of some of the principal sea-going steamers
which had been constructed and brought into operation at the date
of the last reports accessible to us. It must, however, be always
remembered, that the progress of enterprise, more especially in
this department, in the United States is so rapid, that probably
before these pages come into the hands of the reader many other
and more magnificent vessels will have been launched.

3. The other class of steamers used for towing the commerce of
the rivers corresponds to the goods trains on railways. No spec-
tacle can be more remarkable than these locomotive machines,
dragging their enormous load up the Hudson. They may be seen
in the midst of this vast stream, surrounded by a cluster of twenty or
thirty loaded craft of various magnitudes. Three or four tiers are
lashed to them at each side, and as many more at their bow and at
their stern. The steamer is almost lost to the eye in the midst of
this crowd of vessels which cling around it, and the moving mass
is seen to proceed up the river, no apparent agent of propulsion
being visible, for the steamer and its propellers are literally buried
in the midst of the cluster which clings to it and floats round and
near it.

4. As this water goods train, for so it may be called, ascends the
Hudson, it drops off its load, vessel by vessel, at the towns which
it passes. One or two are left at Newburgh, another at Powkeepsie,
two or three more at Hudson, one or two at Fishkill, and, in fine,
the tug arrives with a residuum of some half-dozen vessels at
Albany.

D 2 35

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

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COMMENCEMENT OF RAILWAYS.

III. RAILWAYS.

5. The phenomena of transport so unexpectedly developed on
the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the
miracles of swift locomotion there exhibited, had no sooner been
announced, than the Americans, with their usual ardour, resolved
to import this great improvement; and projects of passenger rail-
ways, on the vast scale which characterises all their enterprises,
were immediately set forth.

Some lines of railway in isolated positions, around coal-works
and manufactories, had been, as in England, already for some
years in operation. It was not, however, until after 1830 that the
railway system began to assume in America the character which
it had already taken in England. A few years were sufficient to
bring it into practical operation in several parts of New England
and in the State of New York; and, once commenced, its progress
was extremely rapid.

As might naturally be expected, the chief theatre of railway
enterprise is the Atlantic States. The Mississippi and its tribu-
taries have hitherto served the purposes of commerce and inter-
communication to the comparatively thinly scattered population
of the Western States so efficiently, that notwithstanding the extra-
ordinary enterprise of the people, the railway system has hitherto
made comparatively small progress in these vast forest- covered
plains and open prairies. Nevertheless they have not altogether
escaped the operations of the engineer ; and the traveller already
feels the benefit, even in these remote regions, of the new art of
transport. These railways consist as yet of detached and single lines,
unconnected with the vast network which we shall presently notice.

To the traveller in these wild regions, the aspect of such artificial
agents of transport in the midst of a country, a great portion of
which is still in the state of native forest, is most remarkable, and
strongly characteristic of the irrepressible spirit of enterprise of
its people. Travelling in the backwoods of Mississippi, through
native forests, where, till within a few years, human foot never
trod, through solitudes, the silence of which was never broken,
even by the red man, we have been sometimes filled with wonder
to find ourselves transported by an engine constructed at New-
eastle-on-Tyne, and driven by an artisan from Liverpool, at the
rate of twenty miles an hour. It is not easy to describe the
impression produced by the juxtaposition of these refinements of
art and science with the wildness of the country, where one sees
the frightened deer start from its lair at the snorting of the
ponderous machine and the appearance of the snake-like train
which follows it.

87

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

6. The first American railway was opened for passengers on the
last day of 1829. It appears that in 1849, after an interval of just
twenty years, there were in actual operation 6565 miles of railway
in the States. The cost of construction and plant of this system
of railways, according to official reports, was 53,386885/., being
at the average rate of 8129Z. per mile.

7. We have, however, before us documents which supply data
to a more recent period, and have computed from them the follow-
ing table, exhibiting the number of miles of railway which were
in actual operation in the United States, the capital expended in
their construction and plant, and the length of the lines in process
of construction, but not yet completed in 1851 : —

1

*

I

o

!l

||

.

.9

gS

p,2

s

co

I

"o

i*

I

1

I

1*

o

Miles.

£

Miles.

£

Eastern States, including Maine,

New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas-

sachusetts, Rhode Island, and

Connecticut ....

2845

23,100987

567

8120

Atlantic States, including New

York, the Jerseys, Pennsylvania,

Delaware, and Maryland .
Southern States, including Virginia,

3503

27,952500

2020

7979

the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida,

and Alabama ....

2106

8,253130

1283

3919

Western States, including Missis-

sippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennes-

see, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan,

Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa,

and Wisconsin ....

1835

7,338290

5762

3999 :

Totals and averages . . .

10289

66,644907

9632

6478

8. Of the total length of railways which overspread the territory
of the Union, more than the half are constructed in the States of
Pennsylvania, New York, and those of New England. The
principal centres from which these lines of communication diverge
are Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

A considerable extent, though of less importance, diverges from
Baltimore ; and recently lines of communication of great length
have been constructed, from Charleston in South Carolina, and
from Savannah in Georgia.
38

RAILWAYS OP NEW YORK.

9. From Boston three trunk-lines issue ; the chief of which passes
through the State of Massachusetts to Albany, on the Hudson.
This line of railway is 200 miles in length, and appears destined
to carry a considerable traffic. Its ramifications southward,
through the smaller states of New England, are numerous, chiefly
leading to the ports upon Long Island Sound, which commu-
nicate by steam-boats with New York. The first branch is
carried from Worcester, in Massachusetts, to New London on the
Sound, where it meets a short steam-ferry which communicates
with Greenport, at the eastern extremity of Long Island, from
which another railway, nearly fifty miles long, is carried to
Brooklyn, which occupies the shore of that island immediately
opposite New York, and communicates with the latter city by a
steam-ferry.

Thus there is a continued railway communication from Boston
to New York, interrupted only by two ferries.

Another branch of the great Massachusetts line is carried south
from Springfield, through Hartford to Newhaven; and a third
from Pittsfield to Bridgeport, both the latter places being on the
Sound, and communicating with New York by steamboats.

The second trunk-line from Boston proceeds southwards to
Providence, and thence to Stonington, from which it communicates
by a ferry with the Long Island Railway. This trunk-line throws
off a branch from Foxburgh to New Bedford, where it communi-
cates by ferries with the group of islands and promontories
clustered round Cape Cod.

A third trunk-line proceeds from Boston through the State of
Maine.

10. Notwithstanding the speed and perfection of the steam
navigation of the Hudson, a railway is constructed on the east side
of that river to Albany.

From Albany an extensive line of railway communication, 323
miles in length, is carried across the entire State of New York to
Buffalo, at the head of Lake Erie, with branches to some important
places on the one side and on the other. This line forms the
continuation of the western railway, carried from Boston to Albany,
and, combined with this latter, completes the continuous railway
communication from the harbour of Boston to that of Buffalo on
Lake Erie, making an entire length of railway communication,
from Boston to Buffalo, of 523 miles.

The branches constructed from this trunk-line are not numerous.
There is one from Schenectady to Troy, on the Hudson, and
another from Schenectady to Saratoga ; another from Syracuse to
Oswego, on Lake Ontario ; and another from Buffalo to the falls of
Niagara, and from thence to Lockport.

39

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

Not content with this fine line of communication to the Western
Lakes, the commercial interests of New York have projected,
and in part constructed, a more direct route from New York to
Buffalo, independent of the Hudson.

The disadvantage of this river as a sole means of communica-
tion is, that, during a certain portion of the winter, all traffic
upon it is suspended by frost. In this case, the line of railway
communicating already from Bridgeport and Newhaven to Albany
has been resorted to by travellers. However, it may be regarded
as certain, that the intermediate traffic of the State of New York
along the direct line of railway now in progress from that city to
Buffalo, will very speedily be sufficient for the support of an inde-
pendent line of railway.

The immediate environs of New York are served by several
short railways, as is usual indeed in all great capitals where the
railway system of transport prevails.

The line connecting that city with Haarlem is analogous in
many respects to the Greenwich and Blackwall lines at London,
and the Versailles and St. Germain lines at Paris. It is supported
by a like description of traffic. The New York line, however, has
this peculiarity, that it is conducted through the streets of the
capital upon their natural level, without either cutting, tunnel, or
embankment. The carriages, on entering the town, are drawn by
horses, four horses being allowed to each coach ; each coach car-
rying from sixty to eighty persons, and being constructed like the
railway coaches in general in the United States.

The rails along the streets are laid down in a manner similar to
that which is customary at places where lines of railway in
England cross turnpike roads on a level. The surface of the
rail is flush with the pavement, and a cavity is left for the flange
to sink in.

Other short railways, from New York to Paterson, Morristown,
and Somerville, require no particular note.

11. The great line of railway already described, from Boston to
New York, is continued southwards from that capital to Phila-
delphia. There are here two rival lines ; one of which, commenc-
ing from Jersey city on the Hudson, opposite the southern part of
New York, is carried' to Bordentown, on the left bank of the
Delaware, whence the traffic is carried by steamboats a few miles
further to Philadelphia. The rival line commences from South
Amboy in New Jersey, to which the traffic is brought from New
York by steamers plying on the Rariton river, which separates
New Jersey from Staten Island. From Amboy, the railway is
continued to Camden, on the left bank of the Delaware, opposite
Philadelphia.
40

DISTRIBUTION OF RAILWAYS.

By far the greater part of the traffic between New York and
Philadelphia is carried by the former line.

12. Philadelphia is the next great centre from which railways
diverge. One line is carried westward through the state of Penn-
sylvania, passing through Reading, and terminating at Pottsville.
in the midst of the great Pennsylvania!! coal-field. There it con-
nects with a network of small railways, serving the coal and iror
mines of this locality. This line of railway is a descending line
towards Philadelphia, and serves the purposes of the mining dis-
tricts better than a level. The loaded trains descend usually with
but little effort to the moving power, while the empty waggons are
drawn back.

The passenger traffic is chiefly between Reading and Phil a-
delphia.

Another line of railway is carried westward through the state of
Pennsylvania, passing through Lancaster, Harrisburg, the seat of
the legislature, Carlisle, and Chambersburg, where it approaches
the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. The length of this railway from
Philadelphia to Chambersburg is 154 miles. The former, to
Pottsville and Mount Carbon, is 108 miles, the section to Reading
being 64.

13. The rate at which this prodigious extent of public works has
been executed will appear by the following table : —

Tear Miles in

operation.

1830
1832
1835
1840
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850

167
213
787
2380
3659
4144
4249
5258
7000
8797

1851 10289

14. It appears from returns still more recent that on the 1st of
January, 1853, the number of miles of railway in operation was
13315, and the number of miles in process of construction was
12029 ; so that in the two years ending the first of January, 1853,
a total extent of railway measuring 3026 miles was brought
under traffic, and the construction of 2397 miles of new railway
was commenced.

15. The proportion in which this enormous extent of overland
communication is distributed among the confederated States, and
the proportion of its extent in each State to the superficial area
and to the population, are exhibited in the following table : —

41

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

GREAT EXTENT OF RAILWAYS.

It must be admitted that the results here exhibited present a
somewhat astonishing spectacle. It appears from this statement
that in 1853 there were in actual operation in the United States
13315 miles of railway, and 12029 projected and in process of
execution. So that when a few years more shall have rolled away,
this extraordinary people will actually have above 25000 miles of
iron road in operation.

16. It results from the above, compared with the previous
report, that the average cost of construction has been diminished
as the operations progressed. The average cost of construction of
the 6500 miles of railway in operation in 1849 was 81291. per mile,
whereas it appears from the preceding table that the actual cost of
10289 miles, in operation in 1851, has been at the average rate of
647S£. per mile. On examining the analysis of the distribution
of these railways among the States, it appears that this discord-
ance of the two statements is apparent rather than real, and
proceeds from the fact that the railways opened since 1849, being
chiefly in the southern and western States, are cheaply constructed
lines, in which the landed proprietors have given to a great extent
their gratuitous co-operation, and in which the plant and working
stock is of very small amount, so that their average cost per mile
is a little under 4000?. It is also worthy of observation that the
distribution of this network of railways is extremely unequal, not
only in quantity, but in its capability, as indicated by its expense
of construction. Thus, in the populous and wealthy States of
Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, the proportion of
railways to surface is considerable, while in the southern and
western States it is trifling.

17. The States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which form the
great highway along which the vast tide of western emigration
flows, have, within the last few years, been making extraordinary
exertions to complete a system of internal railway communication ;
and, before ten years shall have elapsed, their extensive territory
will be literally overspread with a network of railways and canals.

18. A glance at any recent map of the internal communications of
the United States will fill any reflecting observer with astonishment
at the enterprise of this extraordinary people. A line of railway,
already 1200 miles in length, and which is incessantly increasing,
stretches along the Atlantic coast. There are besides not less than
eight great trunk-lines extending from the seaboard to the interior: —

Miles.

1. Portland (Maine) to Montreal, communicating with the

St. Lawrence and Ottowa rivers .... 300

2. Boston to Ogdensburg, where the St. Lawrence issues

from Lake Ontario 400

3. Boston to Buffalo on Lake Erie ... . 600

43

LOCOMOTION BY EIVER AND RAILWAY.

Miles.

4. New York to Lake Erie 400

5. Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on the Ohio . . . 400

6. Baltimore to the Ohio 350

7. Charleston, South Carolina, to Chatianoogy, in Tennessee 350

8. Savannah, Georgia, to Decatur, Georgia, and Montgomery,

on the Alabama . 500

There are also in progress of construction several detached lines
of railway along the southern shores of the great lakes, intended
to connect together the numerous cross-lines which traverse that
country, and so to form an unbroken system of railway communi-
cation with the interior. An extensive line commencing at Galena,
on the Upper Mississippi, in the heart of the mining region, crosses
the state of Illinois, and passing Chicago, skirts the southern shore
of Lake Michigan. This line is complete and under traffic.
From Michigan city it crosses the State of that name, arriving at
Sandusky, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. From Sandusky
this vast artery, following the shore of the lake, arrives at Dunkirk,
where it unites with several great trunk-lines, which, traversing
the States of New York and Pennsylvania, communicate with the
seaboard at Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The extent
of this line, running west and east from the Mississippi to the
Atlantic, is not less than 1800 miles.

19. "When it is considered that the railways in this country have
cost upon an average about 40000Z. per mile, the comparatively low
cost of the American railways will doubtless appear extraordinary.

This circumstance, however, is explained partly by the general
character of the country, partly by the mode of constructing the
railways, and partly by the manner of working them. With
certain exceptions, few in number, the tract of country over which
these lines are carried is nearly a dead level. Of earthwork there
is but little ; of works of art, such as viaducts and tunnels,
commonly none. "Where the railways are carried over streams or
rivers, bridges are constructed in a rude but substantial manner
of timber supplied from the roadside forest, at no greater cost than
that of hewing it. The station-houses, booking-offices, and other
buildings, are likewise slight and cheaply constructed of timber.
On some of the best lines in the more populous states the timber
bridges are constructed with stone pillars and abutments, supporting
arches of trusswork, the cost of such bridges varying from 46s. per
foot, "for 60 feet span, to 61. 10s. per foot for 200 feet span, for a
single line, the cost on a double line being 50 per cent. more.

20. When the railways strike the course of rivers, such as the
Hudson, Delaware, or Susquehanna — too wide to be crossed by
bridges — the traffic is carried by steam-ferries. The manage-
ment of these ferries is deserving of notice. It is generally so

44

CHEAPNESS OF CONSTRUCTION.

arranged that the time of crossing them corresponds with a meal
of the passengers. A platform is constructed level with the line of
railway, and carried to the water's edge. Upon this platform
rails are laid, by which the waggons which bear the passengers'
luggage and other matters of light and rapid transport are rolled
directly upon the upper deck of the ferry-boat, the passengers
meanwhile going under a covered way to the lower deck. The
whole operation is accomplished in five minutes. While the boat is
crossing the spacious river, the passengers are supplied with their
breakfast, dinner, or supper, as the case maybe. On arriving at the
opposite bank the upper deck comes in contact with a like platform,
bearing a railway, upon which the luggage waggons are rolled ; the
passengers ascend, as they descended, under a covered way, and,
resuming their places in the railway carriages, the train proceeds.
21. The prudent Americans have availed themselves of other
sources of economy, by adopting a mode of construction adapted
to the expected traffic. Formed to carry a limited commerce, the
railways are frequently single lines, sidings being provided at
convenient situations. Collision is impossible, for the first train
which arrives at a siding must enter it, and remain there until the
following train arrives. This arrangement would be attended
with inconvenience with a crowded traffic like that of many lines
on the English railways, but even on the principal American lines
the trains seldom pass in each direction more than twice a day,
and their time and place of meeting is perfectly regulated. In the
structure of the roads, also, principles have been adopted which
have been attended with great economy compared with the English
lines. The engineers, for example, do not impose on themselves
the difficult and expensive condition of excluding all curves but
those of large radius, and all gradients exceeding a certain small
limit of steepness. Curves of 500 feet radius, and even less, are
frequent, and acclivities rising at the rate of 1 foot in 100 are con-
sidered a moderate ascent, while there are not less than fifty lines
laid down with gradients varying from 1 in 100 to 1 in 75 ; never-
theless, these lines are worked with facility by locomotives, without
the expedient of assistant or stationary engines. The consequences
of this have been to reduce in an immense proportion the cost of
earthwork, bridges, and viaducts, even in parts of the country
where the character of the surface is least favourable. But the
chief source of economy has arisen from the structure of the line
itself. In many cases where the traffic is lightest, the rails consist
of flat bars of iron, two-and-a-half inches broad and six-tenths of
an inch thick, nailed and spiked to planks of timber laid longi-
tudinally on the road in parallel lines, so as to form what are
called continuous bearings. Some of the most profitable American

45

LOCOMOTION BY" RIVER AND RAILWAY.

railways, and those of which the maintenance has proved least
expensive, have been constructed in this manner. The road
structure, however, varies according to the traffic. Rails are
sometimes laid weighing only from 25 Ib. to 30 Ib. per yard. In
some cases of great traffic they are supported on transverse sleepers
of wood, like the European railways ; but in consequence of the
comparative cheapness of wood and the high price of iron, the
strength necessary for the road is mostly obtained by reducing
the distance between the sleepers, so as to supersede the necessity
of giving greater weight to the rails.

22. The same observance of the principles of economy is main-
tained with regard to their locomotive stock. The engines are
strongly built, safe, and powerful, but are destitute of much of
that elegance of exterior and beauty of workmanship which have
excited so much admiration in the machines exhibited in the
Crystal Palace. The fuel is generally wood, but on certain lines
near the coal districts coal is used. The use of coke is nowhere
resorted to. Its expense would make it inadmissible, and in a
country so thinly inhabited, the smoke proceeding from coal is not
objected to. The ordinary speed, stoppages included, is from
fourteen to sixteen miles an hour. Independently of other consi-
derations, the light structure of many of the roads would not allow
a greater velocity without danger ; nevertheless, we have frequently
travelled on some of the better constructed lines at the ordinary speed
of the English railways, say thirty miles an hour and upwards.

Of late years, however, many exceptions to this system of
economical construction are presented. The competition for goods
traffic which has been recently produced by the great and rapid
extension of railway communication has induced the companies to
impose a more strict limit on the gradients and curves, and the
engineer is often restricted in laying out the lines to gradients not
exceeding forty feet per mile, and curves not less than 2000
feet radius.

23. The lines are also more generally now built with greater soli-
dity. The flat bar rail is fast giving way to rails of the more durable
form, weighing from 40 Ib. to 60 Ib. per yard. On the Camden and
Amboy roads, rails have lately been laid down, having a depth of
not less than seven inches, and weighing 90 Ib. per yard.

Within the last few years, also, more attention has been given
to the style of the engines. They still continue generally light
compared with the English locomotives, but the working machi-
nery vies with that of the river boats in beauty of workmanship,
and the engine is often even covered with a profusion of super-
fluous ornament.

On the railways of the Northern and Eastern States, the platform
46

PASSENGER CARRIAGES.

on which the engine -driver stands is now in variably surrounded and
covered so as to shelter the engine-driver from the inclemency of the
M'eather, from the cold, wind, and snow in winter, and the scorch-
ing rays of the sun in summer. This covering is glazed at the front
and the sides, so as to enable the driver to see the line before him,
and at either side, and to prevent, at the same time, the blinding
effect of rain, snow, or sleet. He is thus always enabled to act with
promptitude and energy in case of any accident or emergency.

24. All passenger- carriages on these lines, which make long
trips of above twelve hours, are furnished at one extremity with a
saloon for ladies only, supplied with sofas, chairs, and all the
necessary comforts and conveniences.

The form and structure of the carriages is a source of consider-
able economy in the working of the lines. The passenger carriages
are not distinguished, as in Europe, by different modes of pro-
viding for the ease and comfort of the traveller. There are no
first, second, and third classes. All are first class, or rather all
are of the same class. The carriage consists of a long body like
that of a London omnibus, but much wider, and twice or thrice
the length. The doors of exit and entrance are at each end ; a
line of windows being placed at each side, similar exactly to those
of an omnibus. Along the centre of this species of caravan is an
alley or passage, just wide enough to allow one person to walk
from end to end. On either side of this alley are seats for the
passengers, extending crossways. Each seat accommodates two
persons ; four sitting in each row, two at each side of the alley.
There are from fifteen to twenty of these seats, so that the carriage
accommodates from sixty to eighty passengers. In cold weather, a
small stove is placed near the centre of the carriage, the smoke-pipe
of which passes out through the roof ; and a good lamp is placed
at each end for illumination during the night; The vehicle is thus
perfectly lighted and warmed. The seats are cushioned ; and
their backs, consisting of a simple padded board, about six inches
broad, are so supported that the passenger may at his pleasure turn
them either way, so as to turn his face or his back to the engine. For
the convenience of ladies who travel unaccompanied by gentlemen,
or who otherwise desire to be apart, a small room, appropriately
furnished, is sometimes attached at the end of the carriage, admis-
sion to which is forbidden to gentlemen.

25. It will occur at once to the engineer, that vehicles of such
extraordinary length would require a railway absolutely straight ;
it would be impossible to move them through any portion of a line
which has sensible curvature. Curves which would be altogether
inadmissible on any European line are nevertheless admitted in
the construction of American railways without difficulty or hesi-

47

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

tation, and through these the vehicles just described move with
the utmost facility. This is accomplished by a simple and effectual
arrangement. Each end of this oblong caravan is supported on a
small four-wheeled railway truck, on which it rests on a pivot ;
exactly similar to the expedient by which the forewheels of a
carriage sustain the perch. These railway carriages have in fact
two perches, one at each end; but instead of resting on two
wheels, each of them rests on four. The vehicle has therefore the
facility of changing the direction of its motion at each end ; and
in moving through a curve, one of the trucks will be in one part
of the curve while the other is at another, — the length of the body
of the carriage forming the chord of the intermediate arc ! For the
purposes they are designed to answer, these carriages present many
advantages. The simplicity of the structure renders the expense
of their construction incomparably less than that of any class of
carriage on an European railway. But a still greater source of
saving is apparent in their operation. The proportion of the dead
weight to the profitable load is far less than in the first or second-
class carriages, or even than in the third-class on the English
railways. It is quite true that these carriages do not offer to the
wealthy passenger all the luxurious accommodation which he finds
in our best first-class carriages ; but they afford every necessary
convenience and comfort.

AMERICAN RAILWAY CARRIAGE.— EXTET.10E.

43

AMERICAN BAILWAT CARRIAGE. — INTERIOR.

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY

IN THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER III.

1. Railways carried to centre of cities — Mode of turning corners of streets.
— 2. Accidents rare. — 3. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh line. — 4. Ex-
tent and returns of railways. — 5. Traffic returns. — 6. Western lines
— Transport of agricultural produce. — 7. Prodigious rapidity of
progress. — 8. Extent of common roads. — 9. Kailways chiefly single
lines. — 10. Organisation of companies and acts of incorporation. —
11. Extent of railways in proportion to population. — 12. Great advan-
tages of facility of inland transport in the United States. — 13. Passen-
gers not classed. — 14. Recent report on the financial condition of the
United States railways. — 15. Table of traffic returns on New England
lines. — 16. CuWn railways. — 17. Recapitulation.

1 . IN" several of the principal American cities, the railways are
continued to the very centre of the town, following the windings
of the streets, and turning without difficulty the sharpest corners.
The locomotive station is, however, always in the suburbs.
Having arrived there, the engine is detached from the train, and
LARDNER'S MUSEUM OP SCIEXCE. E 49

No. 20.

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

horses are yoked to the carriages, by which they are drawn to the
passenger depot, usually established at some central situation.
Four horses are attached to each of these oblong carriages. The
sharp curves at the corners of the streets are turned, by causing
the outer wheels of the trucks to run upon their flanges, so that
they become (while passing round the curve) virtually larger
wheels than the inner ones. I have seen, by this means, the
longest railway carriages enter the depots in Philadelphia, Balti-
more, and New York, with as much precision and facility as was
exhibited by the coaches that used to enter the gateway of the
Golden Cross or the Saracen's Head.

2. Notwithstanding the apparently feeble and unsubstantial
structure of many of the lines, accidents to passenger trains are
scarcely ever heard of. It appeals by returns now before us that
of 9,355474 passengers booked in 1850 on the crowded railways of
Massachusetts, each passenger making an average trip of eighteen
miles, there were only fifteen who sustained accidents fatal to life
or limb. It follows from this, that when a passenger travels one
mile on these railways, the chances against an accident producing
personal injury, even of the slightest kind, are 11,226568 to 1 ;
and, of course, in a journey of 100 miles, the chances against such
accident are 112266 to 1. It has been shown that the chances
against accident on an English railway, under like circumstances,
are 40000 to 1.* The American railways are, therefore, safer
than the English in the ratio of 112 to 40.

3. A great line of communication was established, 400 miles in
length, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, on the left bank of
the Ohio, composed partly of railway and partly of canal. The
section from Philadelphia to Colombia (eighty-two miles) is rail-
way; the line is then continued by canal for 172 miles to Holi-
claysburg; it is then carried by railway thirty-seven miles to
Johnstown, whence it is continued 104 miles further to Pittsburg
by canal. The traffic on this mixed line of transport was con-
ducted so as to avoid the expense and inconvenience of tranship-
ment of goods and passengers at the successive points where the
railway and canals unite. The merchandise was loaded and the
passengers accommodated in the boats adapted to the canals at
the depot in Market Street, Philadelphia. These boats, which
were of considerable magnitude and length, were divided into
segments by partitions made transversely, and at right angles to
their length, so that each boat can be, as it were, broken into three
or more pieces. These several pieces were placed each on two
railway trucks, which support it at its ends, a proper body being

* Museum, Vol. i., p. 168.
50

PHILADELPHIA AND PITT3BUEG.

provided for the trucks, adapted to the form of the bottom and
keel of the boat. In this manner the boat was carried in pieces,
with its load, along the railway. On arriving at the canal, the
pieces were united so as to form a continuous boat, which being
launched, the transport is continued on the water. On arriving
again at the railway, the boat was once more resolved into its
segments, which, as before, were transferred to the railway trucks,
and transported to the next canal station by locomotive engines.
Between the depot in Market Street and the locomotive station,
situated in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the segments of the boat
were drawn by horses on railways conducted through the streets.
At the locomotive station the trucks were formed into a continuous
train, and delivered over to the locomotive engine. As the body
of the truck rests upon a pivot, under which it is supported
by wheels, it is capable of revolving, and no difficulty is found in
turning the shortest curves ; and these enormous vehicles, with
their contents of merchandise and passengers, were seen daily
issuing from the gates of the depot in Market Street, and turning
with facility the corners at the entrance of each successive street.

More recently, a continuous line of railway has been completed,
and is now in operation, between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Indeed, so rapid is the progress of improvement in the United
States, that a report of the state of inland communication, as it
existed a year or two ago, will be found to be full of inaccuracies
as applied to the present moment.

4. By a comparison of the returns published in my work
already quoted, with the more recent results already given,
it will appear that within the last four years not less than
6750 miles of railway have been opened for traffic in the
United States. Among these are included several of the most
important lines, of which the most especially to be noticed is the
great artery of railway communication extending across the State
of New York to the shores of Lake Erie, the longest line which any
single company has yet constructed in the United States, its length
being 467 miles. The total cost of this line, including the working
stock, has been 4,500000Z. sterling, being at the average rate of
9636?. per mile — a rate of expense about 50 per cent, above the
average cost of the American railways taken collectively. This is
explained by the fact that the line itself is one constructed for a
large traffic between New York and the Interior, and therefore
built to meet a heavy traffic. Immediately after being opened, its
average receipts have amounted to 11000/. per week, which gave
a net profit of 6^ per cent, on the capital, the working expenses
being taken at 50 per cent, of the gross receipts. One of the great
lines connects New York with Albany, following the valley of the
E2 51

LOCOMOTION BY EIVEK AND RAILWAY.

Hudson. It will no doubt create surprise, considering the immense
facility of water transport afforded by this river, that a railway
should be constructed on its bank, but it must be remembered that
for a considerable interval during the winter the navigation of the
Hudson is suspended from the frost.

5. It is difficult to obtain authentic reports from which the
movement of the traffic on the American railways can be ascer-
tained with precision. I obtained, however, the necessary statis-
tical data relating to nearly 1200 miles of railway in the states
of New England and New York, from which I was enabled to
collect all the circumstances attending the working of these lines.

It appears from calculations, the details of which will be
found in my work,* that upon those railways the total average
receipts per mile per annum was 4694Z., and that the profit per
cent, of capital amounted to 8*6 per cent.

6. It appears by recent and well-authenticated returns, that the
"Western lines, most of which are of recent construction, and derive
their revenue almost exclusively from the transport of agricultural
produce, have proved even more profitable than the Eastern Bail-
ways, whose traffic is chiefly passengers. A large proportion of
these Western lines paid from 7 to 10 per cent., even before they
were quite completed, according to a report obtained by the
' ' Times. ' ' f This prosperous result was obtained even from the lines
which traversed uncleared districts and dense forests. The source
of this advantage is the profit sure to be obtained from the transport
of agricultural produce. In these districts there are no inland
markets. The farmer is obliged to send his produce either to the
sea-coast or to the bank of one of the great rivers, where alone
markets are found. There alone are the manufacturers, and there
alone the exporting merchants established. It has been proved
that agricultural produce can, at least in the United States, be
transported on railways at one-tenth of the expense of its carriage
on common roads. In the following table (page 53) is given the
comparative value of a ton of wheat and of maize at various dis-
tances from the farm-yard, the cost of its transport by each mode of
conveyance being deducted from its cost at the place of production.

It appears, therefore, that the whole value of wheat is absorbed
by the cost of its transport 330 miles on a common road, while 10
per cent, of its value is absorbed by its transport the same distance
by railway. In like manner, while the entire value of maize is
absorbed by its transport over 160 miles of common road, no more
than 9| per cent, of its value is absorbed by transport to the same
distance by railway.

* Railway Economy, chap. xvi. f September 3, 1853.

52

GOODS TRANSPORT.

Transportation
by
Railroad.

Transportation by
Ordinary
Highway.

Wheat.

Maize.

Wheat.

Maize.

dols. c.

dola. c.

dols. c.

dols. c.

Value at .

49 50

24 75

49 50

24 75

10 miles . .

49 35

24 60

48 0

23 25

20

49 20

24 45

46 50

21 75

30 ...

49 5

24 30

45 0

20 25

40

48 90

24 15

43 50

18 75

50 ...

48 75

24 0

42 0

17 25

60

48 60

23 85

40 50

15 75

70 ...

48 45

23 70

39 0

14 25

80

48 30

23 55

37 50

12 75

90 ...

48 15

23 40

36 0

11 25

100

48 0

23 25

34 50

9 75

110 ...

47 85

23 10

33 0

8 25

120

47 70

22 95

31 50

6 75

130 ...

47 55

22 80

30 0

5 25

140

47 40

22 65

28 50

3 75

150 ...

47 25

22 50

27 0

2 25

160

47 10

22 35

25 50

0 75

170 ...

46 95

22 20

24 0

180

46 80

22 5

22 50

190 ...

46 65

21 90

21 0

200

46 50

21 75

19 50

210 ...

46 35

21 60

18 0

220

46 20

21 45

16 50

230 ...

46 5

21 30

15 0

240

45 90

21 15

13 50

250 ...

45 75

21 0

12 0

260

45 60

20 85

10 50

270 ...

45 45

20 70

9 0

280

45 30

20 55

7 50

290 ...

45 15

20 40

6 0

300

45 0

20 25

4 50

310 ...

44 85

20 10

3 0

320

44 70

19 95

1 50

330 ...

44 55

19 80

0 0

1

These results are important to the holder of stock in these
western lines, in so far as they demonstrate how permanent and
secure must he the revenue of the western railroads. The vast
hulk of the western population is agricultural, and will long con-
tinue to he so, and hy far the largest proportion of the receipts of
their railways will he from the transportation of freight. There
is, besides, hardly a country in the world where the same amount
of labour produces an equal amount of freight. These, and other
reasons which will suggest themselves from the facts given, go to
show how solid the basis would seem to be for the prosperity of
the western roads generally, while the premium for which their

53

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

stocks arc selling, and the dividends they divide, illustrate the
matter by incontestable facts.

The year 1852 was the most prosperous year for the American
western railroads in operation and in progress. Their increased
earnings are said, upon good authority, to average an increase
of 15 per cent, upon their mileage, and 10 per cent, upon their
cost. This vast increase is attributed partly to abundant crops
and partly to a general increase of activity in every department
of business ; but in that country more than in any other, the
extension of the railroad system seems likely to exert a beneficial
effect upon each individual railroad for itself. There is scarcely
such a thing now heard of as travelling or freight transportation,
except on railroads or by water. The public sees that undue
importance has been hitherto attached to canals, and it is now
found to be difficult, if indeed it will not ultimately prove impos-
sible, to get the people of the State of New York to appropriate
10,000,000 dollars more for the final enlargement or completion of
the canals already built in that State alone. Transportation or
travel by canals is too slow — it does not suit the electric speed of
the age. We may, therefore, expect in the future that little moro
will be done for canals, while a network of railroads seems destined
inevitably to cover that continent.

7. Americans themselves can hardly imagine the railroad progress
of the United States till they come to the figures of what has
actually been done ; much less can they comprehend their probable
progress in the future. Those who have bestowed the most
reflection on the subject entertain no doubt that the construction of
railways in the south-west and west — that boundless granary of the
world — will continue and increase with augmented ratio for a long
time to come. If that vast district should be supplied with railways
as Massachusetts now is, it would demand at least 100000 miles
of railway ! "What political economist in England or in America
can fail to draw an inference here in favour of Free Trade ? With
the superior facilities of Great Britain for manufacturing iron, and
the still greater facilities of the United States for the prosecution of
agriculture, who is so blind as not to see that they ought to take
our iron and to pay for it in bread, unless bad and unhealthy legis-
lation interrupt this natural order of the law of Providence ? *

8. The extraordinary extent of railway constructed at so early
a period in the United States has been by some ascribed to the
absence of a sufficient extent of communication by common roads.
Although this cause has operated to some extent in certain districts,
it is by no means so general as has been supposed. In the year

* "Times," September 3, 1853.
54

EXTENT OF KAIL WAYS.

1838, the United States mails circulated over a length of way
amounting on the whole to 136218 miles, of which two-thirds
were land transport, including railways as well as common roads.
Of the latter there must have been ahout 80000 miles in operation,
of which, however, a considerable portion was bridle-roads. The
piice of transport in the stage coaches was, upon an average,
3-25d. per passenger per mile, the average price by railway being
about l'47c£. per mile.

From what has been stated above, it will be apparent that the
true cause of the vast extension of railways in the United States is
the immense economy and speed of transport upon them compared
with transport on common roads.

9. Of the entire extent of railway constructed in the United
States, by far the greater portion, as has been already explained,
consists of single lines, constructed in a light and cheap manner,
which in England would be regarded as merely serving temporary
purposes : while, on the contrary, the entire extent of the English
system consists, not only of double lines, but of railways con-
structed in the most solid, permanent and expensive manner,
adapted to the purposes of an immense traffic. If a comparison
were to be instituted at all between the two systems, its basis ought
to be the capital expended, and the traffic served by them, in
which case the result would be somewhat different from that
obtained by the mere consideration of the length of the lines. It
is not, however, the same in reference to the canals, in which it
must be admitted that America far exceeds all other countries in
proportion to her population.

10. The American railways have been generally constructed
by joint-stock companies, which, however, the State controls
much more stringently than in England. In some cases a major
limit to the dividends is imposed by the statute of incorporation,
in some the dividends are allowed to augment, but when they
exceed a certain limit the surplus is divided with the State ; in
some the privilege granted to the companies is only for a limited
period, in some a sort of periodical revision and restriction of
the tariff is reserved to the State. Nothing can be more simple,
expeditious, and cheap than the means of obtaining an act for
the establishment of a railway company in America. A public
meeting is held at which the project is discussed and adopted, a
deputation is appointed to apply to the Legislature, which grants
the Act without expense, delay, or official difficulty. The prin-
ciple of competition is not brought into play as in France, nor is
there any investigation as to the expediency of the project with
reference to future profit or loss, as in England. No other
guarantee or security is required from the company than the

55

LOCOMOTION BY EIVEE AND RAILWAY.

payment by the shareholders of a certain amount, constituting the
first call. In some States the non-payment of a call is followed
by the confiscation of the previous payments, in others a fine is
imposed on the shareholders, in others the share is sold, and if tlie
produce be less than the price at which it was delivered, the surplus
can be recovered from the shareholder by process of law. In all
cases the Acts creating the companies fix a time within which the
works must be completed, under pain of forfeiture. The trains in
shares before the definite constitution of the company is prohibited.

Although the State itself has rarely undertaken the execution of
railways, it holds out, in most cases, inducements in different
forms to the enterprise of companies. In some cases the State
takes a great number of shares, which is generally accompanied by
a loan made to the company, consisting in State stock delivered at
par, which the company negotiate at its own risk. This loan is
often converted into a subvention.

11. The great extent of internal communication, by railways
and canals, in America, in proportion to its population, has been
a general subject of admiration. The population of the United
States in 1840 amounted to 17 millions, and if its rate of increase
during the ten years commencing at that epoch be equal to the
rate during the preceding ten years, its present population must be
about 23 millions. There are, as I have stated, about 6500 miles
of railway in actual operation within the territory of the Union.
This, in round numbers, is at the rate of one mile of railroad for
every 3200 inhabitants.

In the United Kingdom, there are in operation 5000 miles of
railway, with a population of 30 millions, which is at the rate of
one mile for every 6000 inhabitants.

It would therefore appear that, in proportion to the population,
the length of railway communication in the United States is greater
than in the United Kingdom in the proportion of 6 to 3^. The re-
sult of this calculation, however, requires considerable modification.

12 There is no country where easy and rapid means of com-
munication are likely to produce more beneficial results than in the
United States. Composed of twenty-six independent republics,
having various, and in some instances opposite interests, the
American confederacy would speedily be in danger of dissolution, if
its population, scattered over a territory so vast, were not united by
communications sufficiently rapid to produce a practical diminution
of distance. In this means of intercommunication, Nature has
greatly aided the efforts of art, for certainly no country in the world
presents such magnificent lines of natural water communication.

To say nothing of the streams which intersect the Atlantic
States, and carry an amount of inland steam navigation wholly
56

FINANCIAL RESULTS.

unexampled in Europe, we have the gigantic stream of the Missis-
sippi, intersecting the immense valley to which it gives its name,
with innumerable tributaries, navigable by steam-boats having a
tonnage of first-rate ships for many thousands of miles, and tra-
versing territories which present immense tracts of soil, of the
highest degree of fertility, as well as sources of mineral wealth
which are as yet unexplored.

13. On the American railways, passengers are not differently
classed, or admitted at different rates of fare, as on those in
Europe. There is but one class of passengers and one fare. In
one or two instances, second and third-class carriages were
attempted to- be established, but it was found that the number of
passengers availing themselves of the lower fares and inferior
accommodation was so small that they were discontinued. The only
distinction observable among passengers on railways is that which
arises from colour. The coloured population, whether emancipated
or not, are generally excluded from the vehicles provided for the
whites. Such travellers are but few ; and they are usually accom-
modated either in the luggage van or in the carriage in which the
guard or conductor travels.

14. We take the following observations on the financial con-
dition of the railways of the United States from the report already
quoted from the " Times." Although it emanates evidently from
a partisan, it is from an intelligent, well-informed, and honest
partisan, and is well deserving of attention.

"1. In all instances the railroads of the United States have
received their charters from the governments of the several States
through which their routes extend. I am not aware, with a few
exceptions, of an instance in which the application of a company
for a charter for a railway has been refused, provided the responsi-
bility of the applicants, or the amount of capital stock subscribed,
has afforded a satisfactory guarantee for the execution of their
designs. The powers and privileges conferred by these State
charters are very similar to those conferred by the British Par-
liament. Railroad property in the United States occupies the
same relations to State Governments as the property of individuals.
The companies are independent in their action, and responsible to
the State authorities as private citizens.

"2. I shall dwell more particularly upon the western railroads,
because their history, condition, and prospects more materially
concern European readers, their bonds being those now most
frequently in the market. A very large number of the western
railroads have obtained their charters under what are termed
general railroad laws, in distinction from special statutes enacted
for the incorporation of companies named within the Acts.

57

LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY.

Within the last few years the tendency in this country has been
to general rather than to special legislation. The great States
(New York leading the way) have many of them enacted general
laws authorising the construction and providing for the manage-
ment of railways, as well as other corporations and great insti-
tutions. General railroad laws now exist in New York, Illinois,
Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin, in all which States special charters
conferring special powers are prohibited. The same principle of
legislation will doubtless be adopted in other States. There are
many advantages to the public in general laws, particularly as
they concern railways ; for monopolies are thereby rendered impos-
sible, and the principle of laisser faire is adopted and carried out
with the least possible interference with private rights. Under
their operation, associations of men have the same right to
construct railroads as to build factories or ships, and it is found by
experience that each community is fully competent to regulate its
own affairs.

" 3. The stock and bonds of railroads are regarded as personal
property, and, as such, within specific limitations, subject to tax-
ation. No tax ever can be laid upon the bed of a road, its iron,
cars, &c. ; but where valuable real estate is owned for depots,
taxes may be levied. But shares and bonds can only be taxed to
the holder thereof; and, of course, cannot be taxed when held
abroad. In this respect, European holders of American shares and
stocks have an advantage over ourselves.

"4. Companies organised under general laws cannot be dis-
solved without special authority from the legislature of a State ;
and, if the time comes that any American railway company asks
for a dissolution, then, and then only, will the property of the
company be distributed pro rata among the stockholders. I do
not know of a single onerous condition or obligation laid upon an
American railroad company by any State, while I am not aware
that any railroad corporation has been formed in England of which
the same can be said.

" 5. No railroad can exist in the United States that has any
right to declare dividends until it has discharged all its obligations
due at the time ; and all its bonds and debts of every description
take precedence, and can be prosecuted and collected before the
original stockholders can either receive a dividend or profit from it
in any shape whatever. If there be a failure to pay its bonds or
mortgages, the bondholders or mortgagees can, by a short and
simple legal process, become vested with entire control over
the property, and manage it on their own account. In other
words, the right to apply the well-known principles of law to the
relation of mortgagees and mortgagors obtain in all our railroads,
58

FINANCIAL RESULTS.

and they can be enforced by any court of equity within the judicial
district. The payment of railroad bonds is generally secured by
deed of trust to some known and responsible citizen of New York
as trustee, with full jtower given in the deed to the trustee to
take possession of the road, its income, franchises, personal effects,
&c., in case of default, and to sell the same for cash to the highest
bidder, at sixty days' notice, without the intervention of a Court
of Chancery.

" 6. Nearly all the bonds issued by American railways have the
same general features. They are either secured by mortgage upon
the property of the roads themselves, or they are common bonds
for the payment of money. But they are subdivided into two
classes — those which are convertible into stock at the option of the
owner, to the amount on their face, whenever the holder sees fit ; or
they have no such condition attached. Convertible bonds have an
advantage over the latter, inasmuch as they can be converted into
stock so soon as that stock rises above par. This condition has
been found peculiarly advantageous to many of the holders of the
bonds on the western roads, since the stocks of most of these
roads have gone above par as soon as they were completed.

" 7. Nearly all the western railroads were projected and built
for the special benefit of the people themselves in those districts
through which they pass. Their sole object was to be brought
nearer to a market for their produce, and many municipal bodies
subscribed for stocks with no expectation that they would ever
become valuable in any other way. Capital was scarce in the
west, as it is in most new countries. There was a serious want of
outlets to New York and navigable streams. Hence these rail-
roads were undertaken with the expectation of general advan-
tages to the community. But cities and counties could not create
debts, or expend the money in their treasuries for such purposes,
without special authorisation from the State legislatures. The
object of this was to give character and legality to their acts, that
they might have binding force, and also to equalise the burden of
those debts over the owners of property in those sections. The
charters, therefore, of almost all the western railroads authorised
those cities and counties through which they passed to subscribe
by a uniform mode to the stock of those roads. But invariably
one safe condition was attached to this permission — that such
action should also be authorised by a vote of the majority of the
citizens themselves. This voluntary principle has worked admi-
rably ; because no city or county has had the right to subscribe
for stock in roads until a majority of the voters thereof so decided;
and thus the highest sanction of the will of the taxpayers and of
law was imparted to their action. In no one instance can I

59

LOCOMOTION BY EIVEK AND RAILWAY.

ascertain that any city or county" has thus incurred a debt of
more than from 2 to 5 per cent, on the taxable property of its
citizens. The amount subscribed by cities and counties has
ranged from 50,000 to 400,000 dollars, where the taxables would
rise as high as from 4,000,000 to 16,000,000 dollars.

"8. These municipal debts thus created have been secured by
all the guarantees that the State legislatures could throw around
them. The cities and counties have been required to levy and
collect, in case of necessity, taxes (as any and all other municipal
taxes are) from their own citizens, sufficient to pay the interest,
and provide a balance as a sinking fund to pay off the debt, when
it should finally become due. In no instance has any western
city or county hitherto neglected to do this, nor is it likely that
any ever will.

"9. The bonds thus issued to railroad companies by cities and
counties are guaranteed by the roads, and then sold in the market.
They have all the legal force of a lien on all the property of those
cities or counties, real and personal, and, if the proper authorities
do not provide for the payment of the interest and principal, a
mandamus, or an ordinary suit at law, can be issued, by which all
the real and personal property of the citizens of those cities and
counties can be attached and sold. Many years since the city of
Bridgeport, in Connecticut, gave her bonds to a railway company
for 100,000 dollars. For some reason the payment of these bonds
was delayed. A holder brought a suit against the city in the
State Court, and the Supreme Court decided on appeal that the
individual property, real and personal, of each citizen, was liable for
the debt of the city, and could be sold on execution of the decree.

"10. The operation of these laws and of this system of sub-
scription to roads has been uniformly, I believe, beneficent. I
cannot learn that there is a completed road in Ohio, for instance,
that has paid less than from 10 to 14 per cent. ; and, as in a great
majority of instances, the cities and counties that gave their bonds
have been enabled, either by converting them at their will into
stock or otherwise, to sell them, and often at a large premium,
thus realising large profits for thus lendisg their credit. The city
of Cleveland, in Ohio, subscribed 400,000 dollars to two or three
roads, and she is now selling that stock at a premium of from 24
to 27 dollars advance. Her taxable property since 1849 has risen
from 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 dollars, while the population as well
as taxable property has increased in almost the same ratio in those
cities and those counties throughout the west where railroads have
been built."

15. It would be extremely interesting, were it practicable, to
obtain even an approximate estimate of the actual commerce in
60

ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC.

passengers and goods on the American railways. No such general
return, however, is attainable. In my work on Railway Economy,
in the absence of more complete information, I have given the neces-
sary statistical data to determine the commerce [on nearly twelve
hundred miles of railway in the States of New England and in
that of New York, from which I was enabled to calculate all
the circumstances attending the working of these lines. I have,
accordingly, given these in the following table : —

TABTTLAB. ANALYSIS of the average daily Movement of the Traffic on
Twenty-eight principal Railways in the States of New England
and in the State of New York during the year 1847.

PASSENGER TRAFFIC.

GOODS TRAFFIC.

Number

§

Receipts.

1
Trains.

Tons
booked.

1

Receipts.

fc ,

"§H

a

Albany and Sche-
nectadv

630
733
544
518
367
358

146
189

181
545

4,336
326
1,640
1,062
434
650
98
1,338
297
268
46
1,328
618
1,995
1,342
2,240
1,068
474

9,787
37,600
21,550
24,200
13,000
9,850

2,068
3,840

2,625
3,090

17,000
12,400
39,672
48,952
8,158
6,454
11,048
19,680
3,234
4,460
482
26,050
8,540
34,500
21,920
34,910
13,420
8,860

£65
300
169
197
92
61

22
20

24
21

133
60
180
296
67
42
9
133
20
40
3
120
41
189
98
203
73
46

136
406
283

400

212
162

54
144)

131

246'
5SO
648!
326,
203
45
464,
60
173
11
452
81
625
434'

288
219

J1730*

775
752
249
122
29
240
83
53
22
770
414
330
670
112
117
79

65,550*(

29,450
76,580
7,858
2,210
469
5,310
910
930
238
19,450
6,130
9,830
14,230
3,190
2,048
1,718

32
111

38
37
23
19

4
8

12
25

80
102
221
471
64
28
6
69
10
13
3
139
49
106
119
30
24
18

62
360
151
212
40
48

4
9

26
19

170
191
459
1,408
204
64
31
143
19
53
4
194
55
200
192
93
77
72

Utica-Schenectady
Syracuse-Utica
Auburn-Rochester
Tonawanda . . .

Attica-Buffalo
Saratoga-Schenec-
tadv

Troy-Sehenectady .
Ransaeller-Sarato-
ga

Troy and Green-

New York and

New York-Erie . .
Boston- Worcester .
Western

Norwich- Wor'ster .
Connecticut River.
Pittsfield-N. Adam
Boston-Providence

New Bedford
Stoughton Branch.
Lowell

Nashua . .

Boston-Maine
Fitchburg
Eastern

Old Colony .
Fall River

23,771

447, 350 : 2,724

5,471

6,547

246,151

1,861

4,560

* The reports do not supply the tonnage and mileage of these railways
separately, and the above numbers are estimated by analogy with the other
American railways.

61

LOCOMOTION BY EIVER AND KAILWAY.

Milas.

Total length of tlie above railways in the State of New York 490
„ ,, ,, States of New England 070

Total 11GO

&
Average cost of construction and stock per mile in the

State of New York 7,010

,, ,, ,, States of New Engknd 10,800

General average . . . 9,200

Receipts. Expenses. Profits.
Total average receipts, expenses, and profits

per day in the State of New York . 1654 684 970

„ ' „ States of New England 3040 1505 1535

Totals .... 4G94 2189 2505

Per Mile of Per Mile run Per Cent, per

Railway per day. by Trains. Annum on Capital.

Receipts . . . 4'05 75 161

Expenses . . . . l'S9 3 5^ 7 '5

Profits . . 2-16 ^ 2 114 8-6

Expense per cent, of receipts . . .46*8

Average receipts per passenger hooked . . 27'0c?.

Average distance travelled per passenger . . . 18 "2 miles.

Average receipts per passenger per mile . . l'47d.

Average number of passengers per train . . . 54'0

Total average receipts per passenger train per mile 7s.

Average receipts per ton of goods booked . . 5s. 8|c?.

Average distance carried per ton . . . . 38 '0 miles.

Average receipts per ton per mile . . . . 1 '8d.

Average number of tons per train . . . 5 4 '5

Total average receipts per goods train per mile . 8'2s.

The railways, of the traffic of which I have here given a
synopsis, include the most active and profitable enterprises of this
kind in the United States. "We cannot, therefore, infer from the
results ohtained the corresponding movement on the remaining
lines. It appears that of the entire system of American railways,
the dividends, exclusive of those contained in the preceding
analysis, are in general small, and in many instances nothing.
It is therefore probable that, in the aggregate, the average profits
on the total amount of capital invested in the railways do not
exceed, if they equal, the average profits obtained on the capital
invested in English railways.

16. Although Cuba is not yet annexed to the United States, its
local proximity here suggests some notice of a line of railway
which traverses that island, forming a communication between the
62

CONCLUSION.

city of Havannah and the centre of the island. This is an excel-
lently constructed road, and capitally worked by British engines,
British engineers, and British coals. The impressions produced
in passing along this line of railway, though different from those
already noticed in the forests of the far west, is not less remark-
able. We are here transported at thirty miles an hour by an
engine from Newcastle, driven by an engineer from Manchester,
and propelled by fuel from Liverpool, through fields yellow with
pine-apples, through groves of plantain and cocoa-nut, and along
roads inclosed by hedge-rows of ripe oranges.

17. To what extent this extraordinary rapidity of advancement
made by the United States in its inland communications is observ-
able in other departments will be seen by the following table,
exhibiting a comparative statement of those data, derived from
official sources, which indicate the social and commercial condition
of a people through a period which forms but a small stage in the
life of a nation : —

1793.

1851.

Population

3,939,325

24,267,488

Imports . . . . .

£6,739,130

£38,723,545

Exports

£5,675,869

£32,367,000

Tonnage

520,704

3,535,451

j Lighthouses, beacons, and lightships

7

373

, Cost of their maintenance

£2,600

£115,000

Revenue . . . . .

£1,230,000

£9,516,000

National expenditure

£1,637,000

£8,555,000

Post-offices

209

21,551

Post roads (miles)

5,642

178,670

Revenues of Post-office

£22,800

£1,207,000

Expenses of Post-office .
Mileage of mails . . .

£15,650

£1,130,000
46,541,423

Canals (miles) ....

—

5,000

Railways (miles) ....

—

10,287

Electric telegraph (miles) . . .

—

15,000

Public libraries (volumes)

75,000

2,201,623

; School libraries (volumes) . . .

—

2,000,000

If they were not founded on the most incontestable statistical
data, the results assigned to the above table would appear to
belong to fable rather than history. In an interval of little more
than half a century it appears that this extraordinary people have
increased above 500 per cent, in numbers ; their national revenue
has augmented nearly 700 per cent., while their public expendi-
ture has increased little more than 400 per cent. The prodigious
extension of their commerce is indicated by an increase of nearly
500 per cent, in their imports and exports, and 600 per cent, in

63

LOCOMOTION BY RIVEE AND RAILWAY.

their shipping. The increased activity of their internal communi-
cations is expounded by the number of their post-offices, which
has been increased more than a hundred fold ; the extent of their
post-roads, which has been increased thirty- two fold ; and the cost
of their post-office, which has been augmented in a seventy-two
fold ratio. The augmentation of the machinery of public instruc-
tion is indicated by the extent of their public libraries, which
have increased in a thirty- one fold ratio, and by the creation of
school libraries, amounting to 2,000,000 volumes. They have
completed a system of canal navigation, which, placed in a con-
tinuous line, would extend from London to Calcutta ; and a system
of railways which, continuously extended, would stretch from
London to Yan Diemen's Land, and have provided locomotive
machinery by which that distance would be travelled over in three
weeks, at the cost of l£d. per mile. They have created a system
of inland navigation, the aggregate tonnage of which is probably
not inferior in amount to the collective inland tonnage of all the
other countries in the world ; and they possess many hundreds of
river steamers, which impart to the roads of water the marvellous
celerity of roads of iron. They have, in fine, constructed lines of
electric telegraph which, laid continuously, would extend over a
space longer by 3000 miles than the distance from the north to the
south pole, and have provided apparatus of transmission by which
a message of three hundred words despatched under such circum-
stances from the north pole might be delivered in writing at the
south pole in one minute, and by which, consequently, an answer
of equal length might be sent back to the north pole in an equal
interval.

These are social and commercial phenomena for which it
would be vain to seek a parallel in the past history of the
human race.*

* Lardner on the Great Exhibition, p. 251.

TELESCOPIC VIEW OF EN'CKE's COMET, BY STRUVE, AS IT APPEARED ON NOV. 7, 1828.

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

CHAPTEE I.

1. Popular tendency to connect terrestrial events \rith celestial phenomena.
— 2. Popular opinions as to influences of Comets. — 3. Explanation
of Comets, their nature — attractions — their shape, volume, and
mass — tails — density — non-luminous. — 4. Question discussed as
to a Cornet encountering the Earth, and the result — Comet of
L^Si', of 1805 — Probabilities of such an occurrence. — 5. Question
discussed as to the temperature of the seasons being aflected by
Comets. — 6. Question discussed as to the Earth passing through the
tail of a Comet, and the probable consequences. — 7. Suppositions
adopted by some authors as to Comets producing epidemic diseases —
Comet of 1680— Great Plague of London— Comet of 1668 alleged to
have produced a remarkable epidemic among cats in Westphalia,

8. Comet of 1746 — Earthquakes of Lima and Callao ascribed to it. —

9. Various influences ascribed to particular Comets — Earthquakes —
Plagues — the success of the Turks under Mahommed II.

1 . Ix all ages, and among all people, a tendency has prevailed
to connect terrestrial events with celestial phenomena. Popular
opinion in such cases seeks no reason for its foundation. No
attempt to establish any such relation as that of cause and effect

LARDXER'S MUSEUM OP SCIENCE. p 65

No. 16.

COMETAKY INFLUENCES.

is thought of. The appearance presented in the heavens, what-
ever it be, is simply regarded as the harbinger, precursor, or
presage of the terrestrial events which are supposed to accompany
or to succeed it. When the celestial phenomena thus regarded
are from their nature periodical and recurring, as in the case of
the succession of lunar phases, some attempt is made to generalise
the imputed effects, and to reduce them to rules. In the case,
however, of celestial appearances, which are occasional and extra-
ordinary, and which have no discovered periodicity, no such
general rule can be established. In such cases mankind is, how-
ever, not less prompt and confident in ascribing to their appearance
any extraordinary events whatever which may have taken place
simultaneously with or immediately after them.

2. Among this latter class of occasional phenomena comets
hold a conspicuous place, and have at all times and in all countries
operated powerfully on the superstitious feelings of mankind.
These bodies, scarcely less in modern and enlightened times than
in the more remote and darker ages, and scarcely less among the
most civilised than among the most barbarous nations, have been
regarded with feelings of inexpressible awe and terror, and looked
upon as the harbingers and precursors of the most extraordinary
diversity of effects, physical, physiological, social, and political.
To them are unhesitatingly ascribed extraordinary extremes of
heat and cold of the seasons, whether general or local ; storms of
snow, hail, wind and rain, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, floods, droughts, and fogs ; every form and character
of epidemic malady, whether affecting the human race or the
lower animals, the state of the harvest and the vintage, whether
it be that of scarcity or abundance, of good or bad quality ; the
fruitfulness of women, the births and deaths of extraordinary
men, the march of armies, and the fall of empires.

3. Without insisting, as we very well might, upon the manifest
absurdity and glaring contradiction and inconsistency of most of
these supposed influences or effects, let us first explain briefly, so
far as observation has informed us, what the bodies are, to which
effects so diverse and extraordinary are imputed. Such an
explanation will of itself go far to dispel most of these errors.
We shall also compare the effects ascribed to the presence and
influence of comets with the dates of the appearances of these
bodies, their number, magnitude, and proximity, so as to ascertain
whether any such correspondence has really existed as has been
assumed.

Comets are not, as was anciently supposed, atmospheric pheno-
mena. They move through the regions of space occupied by the
planets. Most of them come into the solar system from parts of
6G

NUMBER OP COMETS.

the universe which extend to enormous distances beyond its
limits, and after passing among the planets and approaching more
or less near to the sun, they again disappear, issuing to distances
not less remote.

The number of those which have been actually seen, and whose
appearances have been recorded, amounts to many hundreds.
But when the chances against these bodies being visible during
the intervals, often very brief, of their passage through the solar
system, the vast numbers of them which can only be seen by the
aid of telescopes, the frequency of their position being such that
they are only above the horizon of observers during the day, or
that they can only be within the range of vision in latitudes
where no observers are found, are severally considered, it will be
evident that the number of comets actually seen must form a very
small fraction of the total number which have visited our
system.

Reasoning upon the common principles of the doctrine of pro-
babilities, Arago has shown that the number of comets which
have passed through the system cannot be less than three and
a half millions, but that it is possible that they may amount to
twice that number. Even with the limited information respecting
these bodies, which was attainable by Kepler, that astronomer
declared that " there are more comets in space than fishes in the
ocean."

Of the many hundreds whose appearances have been recorded,
dating from the earliest historical notices of these bodies, about
two hundred have been observed during the short intervals of
their appearance, with sufficient precision to enable astronomers to
calculate the paths or orbits in which they moved. These calcu-
lations have led to a result of the highest importance, inasmuch as
they have established demonstratively the fact that these comets
are masses of ponderable matter. The forms of their orbits prove
this. It has been shown by Newton that if a body move in a
certain form of curve, called by geometers a conic section, having
a point called its focus at the centre of the sun, it must be subject
to the attraction of the sun's gravitation, and it must reciprocally
attract the sun. Is^ow these comets have been ascertained by
observation to move in these very curves, the sun being in their
common focus. Hence they and the sun mutually attract each
other, according to the universal law of gravitation. They are,
therefore, masses of ponderable matter.

But these masses are not only attracted by the sun but by the
planets, primary and secondary, near to which they pass, and they
are ascertained to deviate considerably, by reason of such attrac-
tions, from the paths they would follow if subject only to the sun's

I 2 67

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

attractive force. ]S"ow, by the general law of gravitation, that
attraction is always reciprocal, and it is certain that the comets
attract the planets as strongly as the planets attract them, and if
the masses of the comets were as great as those of the planets,
they would cause the planets to deviate from their accustomed
path as widely as the planets cause them to deviate. If, however,
we find, that while the deviation of the comets, in virtue of this
mutual attraction, is very great, that of the planets is extremely
small, the inference must be that the masses of the comets are
smaller than those of the planets, in exactly the proportion in
which the effect of the attraction on the planet is less than its
effect upon the comet.

Now, in fact, it has been found that while the deviation of the
comets, due to the attractions of the planets, is very considerable,
that of the planets, of the satellites, and even of the planetoids
(the smallest bodies of the solar system), is so minute as to be
absolutely inappreciable by the most exact means of observation.
A case is even recorded in which a comet passed almost in contact
with the satellites of Jupiter, if, indeed, it did not pass among
these small bodies, yet its attraction upon them was so feeble as
to produce not the slightest observable effect upon their motions,
although the comet itself, by the attraction of the planet, was so
strongly affected that its orbit was completely changed.

By such observations and calculations it has then been esta-
blished that, although the comets are masses of ponderable matter,
the quantity of matter composing each of them is incalculably less
than that of the smallest planet, primary or secondary, of the solar
system.

These bodies are as remarkable for the vastness of their mag-
nitude, and the strangeness, variety, and mutability of their forms
as for the smallness of their masses.

Comets in general, and more especially those which are visible
without a telescope, present the appearance of a roundish mass of
illuminated vapoisr or nebulous matter, to which is often, though
not always, attached a train more or less extensive, composed of
matter having a like appearance. The former is called the HEAD,
and the latter the TAIL of the comet.

The tail is more significantly called the brush by Chinese astro-
nomers.

The illumination of the head is not generally uniform. Some-
times a bright central spot is seen in the nebulous matter which
forms it. This is called the NUCLEUS.

The nucleus sometimes appears as a bright stellar point, and
sometimes presents the appearance of a planetary disk seen through
a nebulous haze. In general, however, on examining the object
63

NUCLEUS. — HEAD.— TAIL.

with high optical power, these appearances are changed, and the
object seems to be a mere mass of illuminated vapour from its
borders to its centre.

The nebulous haze which always surrounds the nucleus is called
the COMA.

These terms coiTA and COITET are taken from the Greek word
KO^ (kerne") hair, the nebulous matter composing the coma and tail
being supposed to resemble hair, and the object being therefore
called KO/^TTJS (kometes), a hairy star.

A telescopic view of one of the globular comets without a tail is
given at the head of this chapter. This is the comet known as
Encke's comet, so called fnom the astronomer who calculated its
orbit.

This may be taken as a general representation of the apparent
form of the comets without tails. The real form is evidently
globular or spheroidal.

The comets with tails are infinitely various in form. In fig. 2 is
represented the comet known as Halley's Comet, as it appeared on
the 3rd October, 1835 ; and this may also be taken as a very general
representation of comets with tails.

Fig. 2.

The rapidly changing and capricious forms of these singular
bodies may be conceived from fig. 3, p. 70, which represents the
same comet as it appeared on the 9th October ; and the figure at the
head of Chapter II. as it appeared on the 5th November.

Nothing which attends these extraordinary objects is more asto-
nishing than their prodigious dimensions. The head of the great
comet which appeared in 1811 was a globular mass, whose diameter

69

COMET AEJ INFLUENCES.

measured 1,250000 miles. Its bulk must, therefore, have been
thrice that of the sun, and nearly four million times that of the
earth I But astounding as this is, the dimensions of the tail were
still more so. The length of that vast appendage was an hundred
and thirty millions of miles, so that if the head were at the sun,
the tail would extend to thirty millions of miles beyond the
earth !

Supposing this tail to consist of continuous matter, let us see
what its quantity must be by measure. Its diameter at the point
where it emanated from the head was equal to that of the head, but
as its sides were slightly divergent, its diameter increased as the
distance from the head increased ; but let us take it as equal only
to the diameter of the head.

The length of the tail having been an hundred and thirty mil-
lions of miles, while the diameter of the head was a million and a
quarter of miles, it will follow that the length of the tail was 104

Fig. 3.

times the diameter of the head. If the sides of the tail, instead of
being divergent, were parallel, it would thence follow, by the
principles of geometry, that the volume or cubical bulk of the tail
must have been an hundred and fifty times greater than that of the
head, and since the bulk of the head was four million times that
of the earth, that of the tail and head together (without taking into
account the effect of the divergence of the tail), must have been
nearly six hundred million times the bulk of the earth ! !

It must be observed, however, that some appearances observed in
the tails of comets have suggested to astronomers the probability
70

VAST SIZE OP TAILS.

that they may be hollow, that is to say, that instead of being
cylindrical or conical columns of vaporous matter, they are thin
cylindrical or conical tubes of vapour, like the funnel or pipe of a
stove. In that case, of course, the bulk or volume of vaporous
matter entering into their composition would be much less than we
have here computed, but the actual volume included within their
limits would still be the same.

In form the tails are sometimes straight, and sometimes curved
like a scymeter, as represented in fig. 2. When the great comet
of 1456 appeared it had that form; and in the superstitious spirit
of that age, it was regarded as a celestial sign of the success of
the Turkish invasion of Europe, from its resemblance to a Turkish
sabre.

The tail is not always single. Comets have appeared with two
or more tails. In 1744 a comet appeared with six tails, each of
which was curved nearly to the form of a quadrant.

The magnitude of these enormous appendages is even less
amazing than the brief period in which they are sometimes thrown
out from the head. The great comet of 1843 had a tail which
measured two hundred millions of miles, so that if the head
were at the sun, the tail would extend to an hundred millions of
miles beyond the earth. Yet this tail was thrown out in less than
twenty days. If, as we must suppose, it was wholly composed of
matter issuing from the head, with what inconceivable force must
not the matter have been ejected which formed the extremity of
the tail ! The matter having been driven through two hundred
millions of miles in twenty days, must have had a, velocity of ten
•millions of miles per day. This would be at the rate of above four
hundred thousand miles per hour, seven thousand miles per
minute, or an hundred and fifteen miles per second.

This velocity is nearly six times that of the earth in its orbit,
and is two hundred and fifty times greater than that of a cannon
ball.

It may be easily imagined that the matter to which such a
velocity could be imparted by the reaction of such a body as the
comet (itself, according to all probability, consisting of mere
vapour), must be infinitely attenuated.

But there are other proofs how light and rarified must be the
matter composing these bodies.

Since the masses of comets are so infinitely minute, while their
volumes are so prodigious, it must follow that the density of the
matter composing them is exceedingly small, so small indeed,
that they must be, bulk for bulk, immeasurably lighter than air
or the most expansive vapour. Other appearances attending
them are also consistent with this. Thus it has been found that

71

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

the smallest stars — stars so minute as to be barely visibla by
the aid of powerful telescopes, have been distinctly seen, and
seen without any perceptible diminution of their lustre, through
the very centre of the head of these bodies. It would follow,
therefore, that the matter composing them is so attenuated
that a thickness of so many thousand miles of it has no sensible
imperfection of transparency.

There is, therefore, the strongest reason to conclude that the
material of which comets are composed is vaporous or aeriform,
and that it is in the most attenuated state that can well be
imagined, being probably some thousand times less dense than
our atmosphere.

It has also been ascertained on satisfactory grounds that this
matter is not luminous, but, like the clouds which float in our
atmosphere, is illuminated by the sun, and thus rendered visible.
Some circumstances attending the variation of the magnitude of
the visible material of these bodies also render it probable that
they are composed of vapour, which when raised to a certain
temperature by their proximity to the sun, becomes absolutely
transparent and invisible, and which as the comet recedes from
the centre of light and heat is gradually condensed and becomes
visible, just as steam issuing from the safety-valve of a boiler is,
at the moment of its escape and before its condensation, transparent
and invisible, and assumes a greater and greater volume of
whitish cloudy matter, as its distance from the valve and its
exposure to the condensing effect of the cold air increases. In
this way is explained the fact, that comets in general are augmented
in their visible volume as they recede from the sun.

Such then being generally the nature and character of these
bodies, so far as observation has enabled astronomers to deter-
mine them, it remains to inquire how far there are any grounds
for the various effects and influences which have been ascribed
to them.

4. Of all the effects which have been ascribed to comets, that of a
collision with the earth is perhaps the least unreasonable.

That such an event is possible, cannot be denied. It remains,
therefore, only to estimate its probability, and the effects it might
produce if it occurred.

That a comet should encounter a planet, two conditions must
evidently be fulfilled :— 1st, the path of the comet must intersect
that of the planet ; and, 2nd, the two bodies must arrive at the
same time at this point of intersection.

Now, of all the known comets there is not one of which the
orbit intersects the orbit of any planet. There is, however, one
whose orbit passes so near the earth's orbit, that the distance
72

POSSIBLE COLLISION WITH THE EAETH.

between the two points "where they are nearest is less than the
semi-diameter of the comet, and it follows, consequently, that if
the earth and comet were to arrive together at these points, the
earth must pass through the comet. If the comet were solid,
which it is not, a collision must take place. But being composed
of the lightest and most attenuated vaporous matter, the effect
would be the same as if the earth were to pass through a very thin
cloud.

This particular comet happens to be one of the few which have
been ascertained to revolve round the sun in a definite period like
the planets, with this difference, however, that the orbit is a
somewhat elongated oval instead of cne which is nearly circular.
The period of this comet being about six years and three quarters,
it follows that it must pass through the place of danger to the
earth once in that interval.

It passed through that place in 1832, under circumstances which
excited among the world in general, who were taught to expect
its approach, and to know its proximity to the earth's path, a
certain panic of apprehension as to the possible consequences.
These fears were however groundless, for the comet passed through
the point of danger on the 29th October, and the earth did not
arrive at that point until the 30th November. Now, since the
earth moves at the rate of above a million and a half of miles per
day, it follows that on the 29th October, the day on which the
comet passed through the point of danger, the earth must have
been nearly fifty millions of miles from that point.

In 1805, the same comet passed through the same point, under
circumstances which, had they been as generally known as in
1832, might have more reasonably excited apprehension, for in
that case the distance of the earth from the comet was only five
millions of miles.

It may, nevertheless, be observed with truth, that although
the danger of an encounter with the comets whose orbits are
known, be insignificant, the risk with relation to the far more
numerous class of these bodies, whose motions are unascertained
and which pass continually among the planets may be much
greater.

Nothing, however, is more easy than to apply to this question
the well understood principles of the theoiy of probabilities,
assuming such conditions respecting the number and magnitude
of the comets, as all must admit to be the most favourable imagi-
nable to the catastrophe of collision. This has been accordingly
done. It has been shown that, assuming the number of comets
which pass within the earth's orbit to be the greatest that it can
be imagined to be, and that the magnitudes of these comets be

73

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

also the greatest that they can be conceived to be, the chances
against a collision of the earth with any individual comet would
be 281 millions to one.

Let us illustrate the meaning of this arithmetical conclusion.
If a comet appear next month, and if such a comet, encountering
the earth, would destroy the whole human race by the shock,
how is the danger of such a catastrophe, as it affects each indivi-
dual, to be estimated ? We answer that this danger would be
exactly the same as if 281 millions of white balls and one black
ball were put into an urn, and that the death of the individual
was to be the consequence of the single black ball being drawn
from the urn by the hand of a blind man.

This conclusion, which is based upon strict mathematical
reasoning, will, we presume, be sufficient to reassure the most
timid and sensitive as to the danger of the collision of the earth
with a comet.

5. Popular opinion is universal and emphatical in all countries
that comets influence the temperature of the seasons, and although
popular opinion is not always infallible, it is not to be lightly
rejected.

All the world knows that the excellence of the celebrated vintage
of 1811 was by common consent ascribed to the influence of the
splendid comet which appeared in that year. The " wine of the
comet" was long known, and bore a high price in the market.
The abundant harvest of the same year was ascribed unanimously
to the same cause.

An article appeared in the " Gentleman's Magazine," in 1818,
upon the supposed influences of the comet of 1811, in which it
was affirmed that, although the winter was mild, the spring
humid, and the summer cold, the sun scarcely appearing with
force sufficient to ripen the fruits of the earth, yet such was the
effect of the comet that the grain harvest was exceptionally
abundant, and certain sorts of fruits, such as melons and figs,
were not only produced in unusual quantity, but had a delicious
flavour. It was further observed wasps were few; that flies
became blind, and disappeared early, and that the frequency with
which women produced twins was especially remarkable ! It
even happened that the wife of a shoemaker at Whitechapel had
four children at a birth ! ! and all these marvellous effects were
ascribed to the comet.

A.s to the question of the influence of comets on the tempera-
ture of the seasons, it is one of the most simple and most easy of
solution. In all observatories, the appearances and motions of
the comets are recorded. The average daily and monthly and
yearly temperatures of the weather are also exactly observed and
74

COMET OF 1811.

recorded. To ascertain, then, whether the comets really exercise
any influence on the temperature of the seasons, it is only neces-
sary to place in juxta-position the comets and the temperatures,
and to examine whether there be any correspondence between
them.

This was accordingly done by M. Arago. The records of the
public observatories supplied the data necessary to make the
comparison during the century which ended with 1832, and the
result was that no correspondence whatever was discoverable.
Sometimes it happened that the years of greatest mean tempera-
ture were those in which several comets appeared ; in some they
were those in which none appeared. In some cases the years
signalised by the most remarkable comets were characterised by a
high, in some by a low mean temperature. Thus in 1737, when
two comets appeared, the temperature was lower than in the two
preceding years when none appeared. Of the twenty years
which commenced in 1763, the coldest, 1766, was that in which
two comets, one of which was remarkable for its splendour,
appeared. In an interval of 16 years, the warmest was 1794, in
which no comet appeared, and the coldest was 1799, in which two
were seen.

But omitting further notice of the thermal character of parti-
cular seasons, let us see what was the general result of this inves-
tigation. Of 74 years, 49 were signalised by the appearance
of one or several comets, and 25 by their non-appearance. The
mean temperature of the former years was found to be 51. °6, and
that of the latter 50. °7, the difference being less than one degree.

Again, of the 49 years in which comets appeared, a single
comet was seen in 25, and two or more comets in 24. If these
bodies produced any influence on the temperature, a difference
ought to be expected between the mean temperature of the latter
and the former years. It was found, however, that the mean
temperature of 25 years of a single comet was 51.°6, while that of
the 24 years of several comets was 51.°4, the difference being only
the fifth of a degree, and even that being against the influence of
the comets in augmenting the temperature.

In fine, the complete discussion of the cometary and thermal
observations, continued through an entire century, fully estab-
lishes the conclusion that there exists no foundation whatever for
the popular opinion that the comets influence the seasons.

6. Of all the eventualities which may arise out of the motion of
comets through the system, the least improbable and moreover
that of which the consequences are most difficult to foresee, is the
passage of the earth through the tail of one of these bodies.

The comets are exceedingly numerous ; but few of them have

75

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

tails. These appendages where they exist are generally of very
limited length, but in some rare instances, as has been already
stated, their length is prodigious, extending over a space not less
than the thirtieth part of the extreme diameter of the solar system.
If such a comet had its head at the surface of the sun and its tail
in the plane of the ecliptic, the tail would sweep over the space
through which the planets, Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars
move, and it might in that case encounter any or all of these
planets.

It cannot, therefore, be denied that the immersion of the earth
in the tail of a comet is a possible event. That it is extremely
improbable, however, may be shows, by the same reasoning as
has been already stated in reference to the question of the pro-
bability of the collision of a comet and the earth, combined with
the consideration that very few comets have tails of considerable
length.

But, supposing such an event to take place, what would be the
probable consequences ?

It is certain that the matter composing the tails of comets is of
such a nature that although these appendages have often a thick-
ness measuring many thousand miles, the smallest telescopic stars
are visible through it, without the least perceptible diminution of
their lustre.

The matter of the tail being, therefore, so completely trans-
parent, and producing moreover no perceptible refraction, its
density, if it be vaporous or aeriform, must be extremely incon-
siderable, and according to all probability, many thousands of
times less than the density of our atmosphere.

If such be its nature, when the earth would pass through it, it
would mingle with the terrestrial atmosphere, and if its density
were, for example, a thousand times less dense than the air, the
atmosphere would contain one particle of cometic matter to every
thousand particles of pure air.

Let us suppose that the room we inhabit contains 10,000 cubic
feet of air, and let 10 cubit feet of any noxious gas be introduced
into it and mixed with the air. We should then take into the
lungs in respiration one particle of the noxious gas with every
thousand particles of pure air. So far as the possible injurious
effects depend on the numerical proportion of impurity, there
would appear in such case to be but little ground of reasonable
fear.

"We have, however, numberless examples of the strong effect
produced upon our organs by effluvia with which the air is occa-
sionally impregnated, which, nevertheless, prevail in a proportion
so minute as utterly to escape the nicest and most exact analysis.
76

POSSIBLE PASSAGE THROUGH TAIL.

A grain of mnsk, or a single drop of the otto of roses, will be
sensible to the organ of smelling in a large room, and will continue
to be sensible for a long period of time. The actual proportion,
nevertheless, which the material effluvia producing this powerful
effect upon the organs bears to tha total quantity of air impreg-
nated with it is quite inappreciable.

It is pretended by some medical practitioners that the effluvia
inspired in smelling certain medicaments is capable of producing-
on patients the effects of an aperient, and it is well known that
the effects of an emetic are often produced by certain odours.

Such analogies, therefore, show that the extreme state of atte-
nuation, which probably characterises the tails of comets, does not
necessarily exclude the possibility of their producing formidable
effects upon the organised world, if they should be mingled with
the atmosphere.

7. This supposition has accordingly been adopted by some
authors, and among them not a few holding a position of authority
in the world of science, as the means of explaining the prevalence,
at various epochs, of epidemic diseases.

Gregory, in a work on Astronomy, published at Oxford in 1702,
affirmed that, among all people and in all ages, the appearance
of comets has been attended with such general effects; and he
adds that it does not become philosophers to treat such traditions
with levity, or to reject them, without consideration, as mere
fictions.

So recently as 1829, Mr. T. Forster, an English medical prac-
titioner, published a work, entitled "Illustrations of the Atmos-
pherical Origin of Epidemic Diseases," in which he professed to
prove that, since the Christian era, the periods which have been
the most insalubrious have been invariably those at which some
great comet was visible. He maintains that the malignant
influence of these bodies is not limited to the human race, nor
even to the organised world. He ascribes to them innumerable
effects upon the inferior animals, and all the violent changes
incidental to the atmosphere besides earthquakes, volcanic erup-
tions, floods, droughts, and famines.

Comets appear on the average at the rate of very nearly two
per annum. 2Tow, it is generally assumed by the partisans of
their influence that they exercise these effects for som-o time
before their appearance, and for some time after their disappear-
ance. It cannot, therefore, be surprising that those who favour
this theory should find a comet for every epidemic or other visi-
tation, whether physical, or physiological, which they desire to
ascribe to such a cause.

Nevertheless, frequent as are the appearances of these objects,

77

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

aiid various as are the effects which the partisans of this theory are
disposed to ascribe to them, cases have been presented in which
the most ardent supporters of such a hypothesis are hard driven
to find a misfortune or a malady to visit even upon the most
formidable of the comets, and on the other hand, it is sometimes
difficult to find a comet on which to saddle some of the greatest
scourges which have visited our race.

One of the largest and most remarkable comets of modern times
was that of 1680. It was also that which passed nearest to the
sun, and not very far from the earth. Nevertheless the partisans of
cometary influences have found it difficult to discover any calamity
to visit upon that body. There were no epidemic diseases, local
or general, to ascribe to it ; but Mr. Forster assigns it as the cause
of a cold winter, followed by a dry and warm summer, and some
remarkable meteors seen in Germany !

The year of the great plague of London (1665) was signalised
by a comet which appeared in the month of April, and to the
influence of which that visitation was, of course, ascribed. No
reasons, however, are given why London alone was obnoxious to
this malign influence, and why no similar effect was produced in
other European capitals, or even in other great towns of England,
nor even in many of the villages with which London is begirt.

To this and all similar speculations it may be answered that,
admitting the possible influence of comets, their effect ought to be
general and not local. There can be no imaginable reason why
such a body should affect, in a special manner, one particular spot
upon the earth's surface, while the surrounding countries are
exempt from the like consequences of its influence.

This is the conclusive answer to all the absurd speculations on
cometary influences which fill the elaborate treatises of Gregory,
Sydenham, Lubienetski, Forster, and others. Some of these
effects appear so ludicrous that it is difficult to quote them in any
serious discussion on a question of physical science.

A great comet appeared in the heavens in 1668, which there is
some reason to suppose to be identical with the splendid object
which passed through the system in 1843. One of the advocates
of cometic influences discovered that the presence of this body in
1668 produced a remarkable epidemic among cats in Westphalia !
We have not heard of any similar calamity in 1843.

8. A comet, not very conspicuous either for magnitude or
brightness, passed near the earth in 1746. The destruction of the
cities of Lima and Callao by an earthquake is imputed to this
body, but no reason is assigned for the exemption of other cities
of the South American continent.

9. To another comet is ascribed the destruction of a steeple-
78

VARIOUS COMETS.

clock in Scotland, by the fall of a meteoric stone ; to another, the
prevalence of flocks of wild pigeons in America ; to another,
remarkable eruptions of Etna and Vesuvius. The authors who, at
great labour of research, rake together such incidents, make a vain
display of erudition, and, as M. Arago wittily observed, are under
a delusion similar to that of a lady mentioned by Bayle, who never
looked out of the window of her apartment, situated in the greatest
thoroughfare of Paris, and saw the street filled with carriages,
without imagining that her appearance at the window was the
cause of the crowd.

The celebrated traveller, Eiippel, writing from Cairo, on the 8th
of October, 1825 (in which year three comets appeared), observed
that " the Egyptians thought the comet then visible was the cause
of the shocks of an earthquake which were felt in that country on
the 21st of August, and that the same object exercised so malig-
nant an influence on some of the lower animals, that horses and
asses perished in great numbers. The truth was, that the poor
animals died of starvation, the deficiency of the overflowings of the
Nile having produced a scarcity of their forage."

"If I were not restrained by considerations of politeness,'*
observed M. Arago, "I should find no difficulty in proving that,
as far as respects astronomical information, there are other Egyp-
tians beside those which are found on the banks of the Nile."

Physical effects are not the only influences imputed to comets.
The comet now so familiarly known to the public as that of Halley,
and whose last periodical re-appearance took place in 1835, appeared
with extraordinary splendour in 1305, being described as " Cometa
horrendce magnitudinis visus est circa ferias paschatis, quern secuta
est pestilentia maxima." Thus, as usual, the great plague was
laid to the account of this body.

The next visit but one which the same comet paid to the solar
system was in 1456, when it is represented as having an " unheard-
of magnitude," and as having a tail which extended over sixty
degrees of the heavens, being two-thirds of the distance from the
zenith to the horizon. It was visible thus during the month of
June, and spread terror throughout Europe. It was regarded as
presaging the rapid success of the Turks under Mohammed II.,
who had taken Constantinople, advanced to the walls of Vienna,
and struck terror into the whole Christian world. Pope Calixtus II.,
terrified for the fate of Christianity, directed the thunders of the
Church against the enemies of the faith terrestrial and celestial,
and in the same bull exorcised the Turks and the comet ; and in
order to perpetuate this manifestation of the power of the Church,
he ordained that the bells should be rung at noon, a custom still
observed in Catholic countries. Neither the progress of the

79

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

comet, nor the victorious arms of the Mohammedans, were,
however, arrested. The comet tranquilly proceeded in its orbit,
passing through its appointed changes, regardless of the thunders
of the Vatican, and the Turks established their principal mosque
in the Church of St. Sophia.

A comet appeared in the year 590, to the presence and influence
of which was ascribed a fearful epidemic, which prevailed in that
year, in the crisis of which the patients were seized with violent
paroxysms of sneezing, often followed by death. It became the
custom, therefore, when these paroxysms manifested themselves,
for the bystanders to address their benediction to the sufferer,
exclaiming, "God bless you." This custom became permanent
and universal, and to this day the sneezer is addressed in the
same words

80

TELESCOPIC VIEW OP HALLEf's COMET OK 5TH XOVEMBEB, 18S5, BT STRTTVE.

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

CHAPTER II.

10. The birtli and death of heroes, &c. — 11. Questions discussed as to whether
the dry fog of 1783 or that of 1831 was produced by the immersion of
the Earth in the tail of a Comet. — 12. Influences of atmospheric
disturbances and currents in producing extraordinary effects on
epidemic diseases — The periodical wind called Harmattan from the
interior of Africa. — 13. Question discussed as to whether the Earth
at any former epoch has been struck by the solid nucleus of a Comet —
Its consequences. — 14. Questions discussed as to whether the geogra-
phical condition of the Earth has ever been disturbed by the near
approach of a Comet, and whether the Biblical Deluge can have been
produced by such a cause. — 15. Probability of the terrestrial equili-
brium being injuriously deranged by near approach of a Comet reduced
to nothing. — 16. Opinions of Laplace. — 17. Curious phenomena of
Biela's comet.

10. As we go further back in history, the moral and political
influences impnted to comets are multiplied in proportion to the
darkness of these times. These objects have been supposed more
especially to have portended the birth and the death of heroes.
Thus a comet which appeared in 43 B.C., and which was stated to
he so brilliant as to he visible to the naked eye in the day time,
LARDNER'S MUSEOI OP SCIENCE. o 81

No. 24.

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

was regarded by the Romans as the soul of Julius Csesar (who was
then recently murdered), transferred to the heavens.

A comet which appeared at the epoch of the birth of Mithridates,
and another which was seen immediately before the birth of
Mohammed, were each regarded as the portents of these historical
celebrities.

A comet, supposed to have signalised the birth of Christ, was
said to have appeared during an interval of twenty-four days,
.producing a light surpassing that of the sun (!), and with a magni-
tude which extended over a fourth part of the firmament, so as to
occupy four hours in rising and setting.

The exaggeration of such statements must become glaringly
apparent when it is considered that comets like planets and the
moon derive all their light from the sun.

A comet appeared in March, 1402, the splendour of which is
stated to have been so great, that it was visible at noon. A
second appeared in the same year in June, which was so brilliant as
to be visible for some hours before sunset. This comet was said
to presage the death of John Gale"as Yisconti. That prince, being
a believer in astrology, had consulted the charlatans of the day,
and the fright produced by the appearance of the comet no doubt
contributed to the fulfilment of the prediction.

Another conspicuous comet appeared in 1532, which was also-
stated to be visible before sunset. It produced much excitement
in Northern Italy, where it was considered to presage the death of
Sforza II.

1 1 . It has been conjectured, not without some show of probability,
that the great dry fogs which spread over a large portion of the
surface of the earth in 1783 and 1831, were produced by the
passage of the tail of a comet over the earth or over a part of it.

The great fog of 1783 had several characters which would
entitle it to serious consideration in relation to this question.
It commenced nearly on the same day (the 18th of June), at
places very distant from each other, such as Paris, Avignon,
Turin, and Padua. It covered a part of the earth's surface,
extending north and south from Africa to Sweden. It prevailed
on the North American as well as upon the European continent.
It can scarcely, therefore, be denominated a local phenomenon in
the ordinary use of that term.

It lasted for a month. That the atmosphere did not convey it
over the regions in which it prevailed was proved by the fact that
its position was not affected by the winds. Whatever direction the
wind took, the position of the fog remained the same. It pre-
vailed equally at all accessible heights above the surface. It was as.
dense upon the summits of the Alps as upon the plains of France.
82

DRY FOG OF 17 S3.

The heavy and constant rains which fell in June and July,
and the storms of wind which accompanied them, did not dissi-
pate it.

Its density and partial opacity yaried in different places. In
Languedoc it was so dense, that the sun was not yisible at
altitudes below 12° ; and at greater altitudes its light was red, and
so subdued, that it could be looked at without inconyenience.

The quality by which it was distinguished from common fogs
was its absolute dryness. Hygrometric instruments exposed in it
indicated the complete absence of humidity.

One of the most remarkable circumstances, howeyer, attending
it was, that it appeared to be endowed with some faintly
luminous quality, such as might be supposed to proceed from
a slight degree of phosphorescence. Thus it appeared from the
declarations of many observers that, while it prevailed at the
epoch of new moon, and therefore in the total absence of moon-
light, the light proceeding apparently from the fog was sufficient
to render objects yisible at distances of two or three hundred
yards.

Such being the actual phenomena, it remains to be considered
whether the hypothesis that the earth passed at that time through
the tail of a comet can be admitted to explain them.

In the first place, it must be observed that the head of the comet,
if such a body were present, was not visible. This cannot be
explained by the supposition that the tail rendered the head
invisible, inasmuch as the fog did not prevent the stars being seen
as usual at night in all places where it prevailed.

It has been suggested that the position of the head might have
been such, that it rose and set with the sun, or nearly so, and
could not therefore be seen in the absence of that luminary either
before sunrise or after sunset. But although this might be
admitted for a very short interval, its continuance for a month
would not be compatible with what is known of the motion of
comets. If it were a comet, the tail being generally turned from
the sun, the head must have been within the earth's orbit, and
between the earth and sun, or nearly so. The angular motion of
the comet must have been such as to remove it from the position
of inferior conjunction, in the course of a few days, after and
before which the head would have either risen before the sun, or
:tcr it, and so would have been visible. Xo such object,
however, was seen at or near the time of the great fog of 1783.

Xo combination of any possible orbital motion of the comet with
the orbital and diurnal motion of the earth has been or can b9
suggested which would be compatible with the position and conti-
nuance of the great dry fog of 1783. It may therefore be concluded

o2 S3

COMETAftY INFLUENCES.

that that phenomenon did not arise from the immersion of the
earth in the tail of an unseen comet.

The great fog of 1831 is subject to nearly the same observations,
and the cometaiy hypothesis is removed by nearly the same
reasoning. This fog was manifested during the month of August.
It spread over the three continents of the northern hemi-
sphere, commencing on the north coast of Africa on the 3rd,
at Odessa on the 9th, throughout France on the 10th, in the
United States on the 15th, and in China during the latter part of
the month.

The sun's light was so enfeebled, that it could be looked at
without coloured or smoked glass. On the coast of Africa, the
sun was not visible at all at altitudes below 15° or 20° ; yet the
nights were so clear, that the stars were visible. Observers
in the north of Africa, in the south of France, in the United
States, and in China, reported that the disk of the sun seen
through the fog had the tint of azure, and in some places of
emerald green.

This appearance was explained by the supposition of the well-
known optical illusion called "accidental colours." The fog or
the clouds around the solar disk, and through which the latter was
seen, being, like fogs and clouds in general, when seen by the
transmitted light of the sun, reddish, the white disk of the sun
seen in juxta-position with them would, by the mere effect of
contrast, appear to be bluish or greenish, according to the tint of
red transmitted by the surrounding clouds.*

Like the great fog of 1783, this fog seemed to have a proper
light. During its prevalence there was, strictly speaking, no
nocturnal darkness. During the month of its prevalence there
was light enough at midnight to read the smallest written or
printed characters. This fact was reported equally by observers
in places the most distant, as in Italy, Prussia, Siberia, &c.

Since twilight ceases when the depression of the sun below the
horizon exceeds 18°, and since at these places, in August, the
depression considerably exceeds that limit, it is evident that the
light thus observed could not have been common twilight.

Whatever may be the explanation of this phenomenon, that of
the immersion of the earth in the tail of a comet is overthrown
completely by the fact that the fog, though extensively spread,
was not continuous, much less uniform. Some parts of the
European continent were altogether or nearly free from it, and
in other parts it was developed in very different degrees. The
times of its continuance in different places also varied much and

* See Lardner's ( 'Hand-Book of Natural Philosophy" (1159).

FOG OF 1S31 — HAEMATTAX.

irregularly, and in such a manner as to "be quite incompatible with
the cometary hypothesis.

The cometary hypothesis, then, being rejected, it has been sug-
d that these fogs may have had much nearer and less extra-
ordinary causes. It was recorded that great physical commotions
were manifested at opposite extremities of Europe in the year
1783. In the month of February terrible and long-continued
shocks of an earthquake took place in Calabria, which produced
great devastation, and by which more than 40,000 inhabitants
of that country were buried under the ruins of overturned
houses and buildings, and in the profound crevices of the cracked
crust of the earth. At a later part of the year, Mount Hecla
underwent the most violent eruptions ever witnessed, and new
craters were opened at various points at the bottom of the sur-
rounding sea, and even at considerable distances from the shore.

Considering these and like commotions, it has been suggested
that the vapour, smoke, and gaseous matter ejected in enormous
quantities during such eruptions, dissipated by the winds, might
have been diffused through the atmosphere over the countries
where the fog prevailed.

Another supposition assigns these fogs to the same cause as that
which produces showers of meteoric stones, noticed in another
number of this series. Among the various forms assumed by this
class of bodies, that of showers of fine dust is not unusual. Now,
we have only to admit the possibility of a still greater degree of
attenuation, to reduce such dust to the condition of the matter
composing a dry fog. This explanation would be quite compatible
with the local and unequal distribution of the phenomenon.

Several medical authorities conjectured that the fog of 1831
might have been the cause of the epidemic cholera which prevailed
about that time. This supposition, however, is overturned by the
fact of the frequent prevalence of the same epidemic since then, at
epochs at which no such fogs were seen.

12. Nevertheless, facts are recorded which render it certain
the atmospheric disturbances and currents do produce extraordi-
nary and hitherto unexplained effects upon epidemic diseases. A
very curious and remarkable instance of this influence is quoted
by M. Arago from the narrative of Matthew Dobson, an English
traveller.

"A periodical wind, called Harmattan, blows three or four
times a-year from the interior of the African continent towards
the Atlantic coast, between latitudes 15° north, and 1° south.
The periods of its prevalence are stated to be chiefly from the end
of November to the beginning of April, its direction varying from
east-south-east to north-north-east. Its duration at any one time

85

COMETAEY INFLUENCES.

varies from one to six days, and its force is always very moderate.
A fog, thick enough to render the disk of the sun red, always
accompanies this wind. The particles deposited by this fog upon
the leaves of vegetables and on the black skin of the natives
appears always white, but the nature of this whitish matter was
not ascertained. It was remarked that this fog was speedily
dissipated by the sea; for although the wind was sensible on
sea at many leagues from the coast, the fog became rapidly less
dense, and, at the distance of little more than a league, it disap-
peared.

"One of the characteristics of this wind and fog is extreme
dryness. When it continued for any time, the foliage of the
orange and lemon trees exposed to it became shrivelled and
withered. So extreme is this dryness,- that the covers of books,
even when closed, locked in chests, and enveloped in linen cloth,
were curved by it just as if they had been exposed to the heat of
a strong fire. The panels of doors and frames of windows, and the
furniture, were often cracked and broken by it. Its effects upon
the human body were not less marked. The eyes, lips, and palate
•were parched and painful. If the wind continued unabated so
long as four or five days, the face and hands grew pallid. The
natives endeavoured to counteract these effects by smearing their
skin with grease."

Considering all these effects, it might be naturally inferred that
the Harmattan must be highly insalubrious ; yet observation
proved it to have the extreme opposite quality. It was found
that its first breath completely banished intermittent fevers.
Those who had been enfeebled by the practice of excessive bleeding,
then prevalent there, soon recovered their strength. Epidemic
and remittent fevers, which had a local prevalence, disappeared
as if by enchantment. But the most wonderful effect of this
atmospheric phenomenon was, that it rendered infection incom-
municable, even when applied by artificial means, such as inocu-
lation.

There was at Wydah, in 1770, a British slave ship called the
Unity, having on board a cargo of above 300 negroes. The small-
pox having broken out among them, the owner resolved on inocu-
lating those who had not taken the natural disease. All those
who were inoculated before the commencement of the Harmattau
took the disease, but of seventy that were inoculated on the
second day after its commencement, not one took the infection ;
yet after the lapse of some weeks, when the Harmattan ceased
these seventy negroes took the natural disease. Soon after they
were attacked by it, the Harmattan recommenced, and the disease
almost immediately disappeared.
86

COLLISION OF A COMET AND THE EARTH.

.? country over winch the Harmattan blows, for more than a
hundred leagues, is a series of extensive plains covered with
verdure, with a few patches of wood here and there, and inter-
sected by a few rivers, with some small lakes.

13. Various phenomena have raised the question whether at any
remote epoch of its physical history the earth was ever struck
by the solid nucleus of a comet.

^Ve have already stated ~ the circumstances which render it
highly probable that the comets generally are mere masses of
aeriform or vaporous matter. Nevertheless, although this be
certain as respects the large majority of these bodies, some among
them, more especially those which appeared at remote dates, have
had a splendour which it would be difficult to imagine to be pro-
duced by the reflection of the sun's light by mere vaporous matter;
and even in modern times, since the instruments of observation
have been improved, and observers have increased in zeal, activity,
and vigilance, and have been greatly multiplied in number,
appearances of a nucleus have been observed which some astro-
nomers have considered to afford pretty conclusive evidence of the
existence of a solid nucleus within the nebulous envelope ; and
although many entertain doubts of this, it cannot be said that the
existence of a solid nucleus in some of the many comets which
have passed through the system is absolutely disproved.

Assuming, then, the possible existence of a solid comet, and
considering the possible (however improbable) eventuality of such
a body and the earth passing at the same moment through the
same point of space, it may be reasonably asked,

What would be the consequences of such a catastrophe?

It must be observed, in the first place, that admitting the bare
possibility of certain comets having a solid nucleus, such a mass
must be less, incomparably, than the smallest body of the solar
system. The grounds upon which this inference rests, have been
already stated.

Now, assuming the earth to move round the sun, and at the
same time to have a diurnal rotation upon a certain diameter as
its axis, let us see what would happen if it were to receive sud-
denly a blow, from a much smaller solid mass encountering it.

If, in case of such an event, the earth had no previous motion
of rotation, and if, as would probably happen, the direction of tho
blow given to it did not pass through its centre, it would receive
a motion of rotation round an axis at right angles to the plane
<Lrawn through the direction of the blow and the centre of the
earth, and the time of rotation would depend on the distance of
the centre of the earth from the direction of the blow.

If, however, the earth, before receiving the blow, had already a

87

COMETAEY INFLUENCES.

motion of rotation, the effect of the blow would be to change either
its axis of rotation or the time of rotation, or both one and the
other. Its new axis of rotation would have a certain position
between its previous axis and that upon which the blow would
have made it revolve if it had no previous rotation. The deter-
mination of this new axis would be a problem cf no difficulty.

Such being the immediate consequences of such a collision, it
remains to consider what would be its secondary results.

If a carriage moving uniformly on the smooth surface of a rail-
way, or a boat propelled or drawn uniformly on the surface of
water, receive an impulse by which its speed is suddenly changed,
all loose bodies upon it will be thrown backward or forward,
according as its speed is increased or diminished, inasmuch as they
do not at first participate in the increase or diminution of velocity
imparted to the vehicle on which they are placed. Hence it
happens, that if a horse going at speed suddenly retards his
motion, or stops, the rider is thrown forward, and if he suddenly
starts forward with increased speed, the rider is thrown backwards.

A similar disturbance of position would be produced by a change
of direction of the motion of the vehicle. If it suddenly turn to
the right, loose bodies will fall to the left, and vice versa.

The earth, moving in its annual course round the sun, and at
the same time revolving uniformly upon its axis, producing the
vicissitudes of day and night and the succession of seasons, must
be regarded as a vehicle upon which all loose bodies, such as air,
water, and other fluids, animals, and all natural and artificial
objects, not planted and firmly fixed in the solid ground, are
transported, first round the axis of rotation by the diurnal motion,
and secondly, round the sun by the annual motion of the earth in
its orbit. Now if, under such circumstances, either of these-
motions were to receive a sudden change either in velocity or
direction, the fluids composing the atmosphere, and the oceans,
seas, lakes, and rivers, not partaking of that change, would, for
the reasons explained above, be thrown from their position of
relative equilibrium. Violent atmospheric commotions would
ensue. The waters of the oceans and seas, thrown from their
beds, would inundate the continents ; rivers would change their
directions, and either run in new channels or inundate the sur-
rounding plains ; lakes would desert their positions, and would
flow in any channels open to them, or would flood the surrounding
countries. Animals would be precipitated against all solid objects
near them, with a force greater probably than that of a cannon-
ball. Trees would be torn from their roots ; buildings, especially
such as have much elevation, would be overthrown ; and if the
change of motion were of a certain intensity, lofty mountain peaks

EFFECTS OF SUCH A COLLISION.

would be cast into the adjacent plains or valleys. It is evident
that a general destruction of the organised world would bo
inevitable.

But eve<a though the change of axis and the change of velocity
of rotation of the earth might be so very inconsiderable, owing
to the smallness of the mass of the striking comet and other
causes, that such devastation might not take place, other effects
would ensue which would speedily show the disturbance con-
sequent on such a catastrophe. The least change in the axis
would cause a corresponding change in the position of the terres-
trial poles and the equator. The latitudes and longitudes of all
places on the earth would suffer a change, the extent of which
would be commensurate to the change of position of the axis of
rotation.

But it is demonstrated in mechanics that a spheroid, such as the
earth is known to be, cannot permanently revolve round any axis
except its shortest diameter, that is the diameter which passes
through the two points which form the centres of its flatness ; and
such we know by exact and numerous observations to be the axis
upon which the earth actually revolves. Now, if by the collision of
a solid comet the earth were made to revolve on any other diameter,
it could not continue so to revolve. It would change its axis from
hour to hour until at length it would again revolve round its
shortest diameter.

But during this continual change of axis, what inconceivable
physical and geographical confusion would arise ! Not only would
the latitudes and longitudes of places be constantly changed, but
their climates and seasons, the conditions and qualities of their
vegetable productions would undergo corresponding variations.
Animals would migrate from country to country, seeking a con-
genial climate, and flying from vicissitudes and extremes of
temperature which their instincts would not fail to tell them are
incompatible with their well-being. The distribution of land and
water, though perhaps exempt from the devastating effects attend-
ing extreme changes of velocity and direction, would nevertheless
gradually undergo a total and general change, and the geogra-
phical features of the earth, the land-marks of nations and races,
would be utterly deranged and effaced.

To answer the question, then, whether the earth has ever at any
epoch been struck by the solid nucleus of a comet, we have only to
examine whether there be any traditions in history, or any physical
traces on the surface of the globe, of phenomena such as we have
described above.

It is scarely necessary to observe that, in the records of history
and the traditions of nations, there are no traces of any such

S3

COMETARY INFLUENCES.

catastroplie as that which we liave here described. The deluge,
which we shall presently notice, did not correspond to the condi-
tions stated. That there are indications on the crust of the earth
which prove that many parts of the continents, now elevated to
considerable heights above the level of the sea, were at some former
epoch submerged, is incontestable. The researches of geologists
have established this fact. But the manner in which these marine
deposits are found to be disposed is not such as a change
in the earth's axis or in its time of rotation would explain.
These deposits are frequently horizontal, of great breadth,
very thick, and very regular. The varied and often very small
shells found in them have preserved their most delicate points,
their most brittle parts, unbroken. Every circumstance, then,
dissipates the idea of a violent transposition ; everything shows
the deposits to have been formed on the spot. What now remains
to complete the explanation without having recourse to an eruption
of the sea ? It must be admitted that the mountains and undu-
lating grounds upon which they are based have risen up from
below, like mushrooms ; that they have grown up through the
bosom of the waters. In 1694, Halley already cited this hypothesis
as a possible explanation of the presence of marine productions
upon the sides and on the summits of the highest mountains.
This explanation is at present generally admitted. A comet
which should perceptibly alter either the movement of rotation or
the progress of translation of the earth would, without any doubt,
occasion terrific convulsions in the shell of the globe ; but, it must
be repeated, these physical revolutions would differ in a thousand
circumstances from those which are at present the objects of
geological research.

14. Has the geographical condition of the earth been ever disturbed
by the near approach of a comet ? Can the biblical deluge have been
produced by such a cause ?

A remarkable comet appeared in the year 1680, which has been
rendered memorable by the attempt of Whiston to prove that it
was periodic, and that on one of its former visits it was the
proximate cause of the Mosaic deluge. Arago, in his essays on
comets, has discussed fully the question raised by Whiston.

Whiston proposed to show not only in what manner a comet
might have occasioned the deluge of Noah, but was desirous,
moreover, that his explanation should agree minutely with all the
circumstances of that great catastrophe as related in Genesis. Let
us see how he has succeeded in his object.

The biblical deluge happened in the year 2349 before the
Christian era according to the modern Hebrew text ; or the year
2926, after the Samaritan text, the Septuagint, and Josephus. Is
90

THE MOSAIC DELUGE.

there, then, reason to suppose tliat at either of those periods a
great comet had appeared ?

Among the comets observed by modern astronomers, that of
1680 may, from its brilliancy, without hesitation, be placed in the
first rank.

A great many historians, both native and foreign, mention a
rery large comet, in similitude to the blaze of the sun, having an
immense train, which appeared in the year 1106. In ascending
still higher, we find a very large and terrific comet designated by
the Byzantine writers by the name of Lampadias, because it
resembled a burning lamp, the appearance of which may be fixed
in the year 531. A comet appeared in the month of September,
in the year of the death of Caesar, during the games given by the
Emperor Augustus to the Roman people. That comet was very
brilliant, as it became visible from the eleventh hour of the day,
that is, about five o'clock in the evening, or before sunset. Its date
is in the year 43 before our era.

Let us, then, compare the dates of these appearances : —

From 1106 to 1680 we find .... 574 years.
,, 531 „ 1106 „ .... 575 „

,, 43 B.C. to 531 we find . . . 575 ,,

These periods may be regarded as equal to each other, and
thence it appeared probable enough that the comets of the death of
Caesar, of 531, of 1106, and of 1680, have been only the reappear-
ances of one and the same comet, which, after having run through
its orbit — after having made its complete revolution in about five
hundred and seventy-five years — became again visible from the
earth. Then if the period of five hundred and seventy-five years
is multiplied by four, we have twenty -three hundred, which,
added to 43, the date of C&sar's comet, gives, with the difference
of only six years, the epoch of the deluge, resulting from the
modern Hebrew text. In multiplying by five, the date of the
Septuagint is found "within eight years.

If we recollect the marked differences of the comet of 1759 in
the period of its revolution round the sun, we shall acknowledge
that Whiston might legitimately have felt authorised to suppose
that the great comet of 1680, or of the death of Caesar, was near
the earth at the period of Xoah's deluge, and that it had some
part in that great phenomenon.

~SVe shall not stop to explain minutely the series of transforma-
tions by which the earth, which, according to TThiston, was
originally a comet, became the globe we now inhabit. It is
enough to observe that he considered the nucleus of the earth as
a hard and compact substance, which was the ancient nucleus of

91

COMETAEY INFLUENCES.

the comet ; that the matters of various natures confusedly mixed
which composed the nebulosity, subsided more or less quickly,
according to their specific gravities ; that then the solid nucleus
was at first surrounded by a dense and thick fluid; that the
earthy matters precipitated themselves afterwards, and formed a
covering over the dense fluid — a kind of crust, which may be
compared to the shell of an egg ; that the water, in its turn, came
to cover this solid crust ; that in a considerable degree it became
filtered through the fissures, and spread itself over the thick fluid ;
that, in fine, the gaseous matters remaining suspended, purified
themselves gradually, and constituted our atmosphere.

Thus, according to his theory, the great biblical abyss is sup-
posed to consist of a solid nucleus and of two concentric orbs.
Of these orbs, that nearest to the centre is formed of a heavy fluid
which first precipitated itself; the second is of water ; it is then,
properly speaking, upon the last of these fluids that the exterior
and solid crust of the earth reposes.

It is proper now to examine how, after the constitution of the
globe to which at least many geologists could oppose more than
one difficulty, Whiston explains the two principal events of the
deluge described by Moses.

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life," says the book of
Genesis, "on the seventeenth day of the second month, the same
day were all the fountains of the great deep broken tip, and the windows
of heaven were opened."

At the period of the deluge, the comet of 1680, says Whiston,
was only nine or ten thousand miles from the earth : it attracted,
therefore, the water from the great deep, as the moon at present
attracts the waters of the ocean. Its action, on account of that
great proximity, must have tended to produce an immense tide.
The terrestrial shell could not resist the impetuosity of the inunda-
tion ; it broke in at a great number of points, and the waters,
then free, spread themselves over the continents. The reader will
here recognise the rupture of the fountains of the great deep.

The ordinary rains of our days, even continued for forty days,
would have produced but a small accumulation. In taking for
daily rain that which falls at Paris annually, the produce of six
weeks, far from covering the highest mountains, would scarcely
have formed a depth of eighty feet. It was therefore necessary to
refer to other sources than the cataracts of heaven. Whiston has
found them in the nebulosity and tail of the comet.

According to him, the nebulosity reached the earth near the

Gordian (Ararat) mountains. Those mountains intercepted the

entire tail. The terrestrial atmosphere, thus charged with an

immense quantity of aqueous particles, was sufficient to produce

92

THE MOSAIC DELUGE.

;orty days' rain of such. violence as the ordinary state of the globe
can give us no idea.

Notwithstanding all its strangeness, we have stated the theory
histon in detail, both on account of the celebrity which it has
so long enjoyed, as well as because of the consideration due to the
man whom Newton himself designed as his successor in the
University of Cambridge ; yet the following are objections which
it seems his theory cannot resist.

^Vhiston having required an immense tide to explain the
mystery of the biblical phenomena of the great deep, was not
content to pass his comet extremely near the earth at the moment
of the deluge : he has, moreover, given it a very great magnitude,
in supposing it six times greater than the moon.

Such a supposition is completely gratuitous, but this is its least
fault ; for it is not sufficient to account for the phenomena. If the
moon produces a tide on the waters of the ocean, it is because its
angular diurnal motion is not very considerable ; that in the space
of some hours its distance from the earth scarcely varies ; during
a considerable time it remains vertically over almost the same
points of the globe ; the fluid which it attracts has therefore always
time to yield to its action before it moves to a region where the
force which emanates from it will be otherwise directed. But it
was not the same with the comet of 1680. Near to the earth, its
apparent angular motion must have been extremely rapid ; in a
few minutes it corresponded with a numerous series of points
situated on terrestrial meridians very distant from each other.
As to its rectilinear distance from the earth, it might, without
doubt, have been very small, but only during a few instants. The
union of these circumstances, it must be observed, was but little
favourable to the production of a great tide.

It is true that, to diminish these difficulties, it is sufficient to
increase the comet — to make its mass not only six times the size
of the moon, but thirty or forty times larger : but the comet of
1680-does not afford that latitude. On the 1st of November in
that year it passed very near to the earth. It is shown that at
the period of the deluge its distance was not less ; then, as in 1680
it produced neither celestial cataracts, nor terrestrial tides, nor
ruptures of the great deep ; as, moreover, its train nor its nebu-
losity did not inundate us, we may in all confidence say that
Whiston's theory is a mere romance, unless, in abandoning the
comet of 1680, we venture to attribute the same effect to another
much more considerable object of the same description.

In fine, we must observe that, even the argument of Wniston,
based upon the apparent equality of the supposed successive
appearances, from which he deduces a period of 574 or 575 years

COMETASY INFLUENCES.

for the comet in 1680, is shaken by more recent calculations,
which give to that body * an elliptic orbit in which the period is
8813 years.

15. The probability of the terrestrial equilibrium being
injuriously deranged by the near approach of a comet, which,
nevertheless, does not actually come in contact with the earth, is
reduced to nothing by the established fact that the masses of
these bodies generally are so utterly insignificant that none of
them has ever yet produced by its proximity the slightest sensible
deviation from its customary path in the smallest body of the
solar system.

16. Notwithstanding the many arguments which we have here
developed against the probability of any fatal influence exerted by
comets upon our planet, it must not be concealed that high
authorities have regarded such influences and effects as not impos-
sible. Thus Laplace, referring to the possible collision of a solid
comet with the earth, says: "It is easy to foresee the effects of
such an eventuality : the earth's axis and rotation changed : the
waters of the seas and oceans deserting their beds, and rushing
towards the new equator : the chief part of the human race and
inferior animals drowned in an universal deluge, or destroyed by
the violence of the collision : whole species annihilated : — all
monuments of human industry overturned ! " Notwithstanding
the many and obvious evidences against the geological phenomena
having been produced by such a cause, Laplace did not reject it,
probably because the phenomena were not so fully known at the
time he wrote as they are at present. " We see then," he
observed, "why the ocean deserted the most lofty mountains, on
which it left, however, incontestable evidence of its presence. We
see why the animals and plants of the tropics may have existed in
the higher latitudes, where their relics and footsteps are still seen.
In fine, it explains the recent date of the present races, whose
earliest monuments do not go further back than about 3000 years.
The human race, reduced to a small group of individuals, in a
deplorable condition, occupied exclusively in providing for their
physical wants, must necessarily have lost the remembrances and
records of all the sciences and arts ; and when later, new wants
were created by the progress of civilisation, all was to be recom-
menced as if no previous progress had been made, and as if man
had been then for the first time placed upon the earth."

17. Having disposed of the question of the physical influences
imputed to comets, we shall conclude this notice by a brief state-
ment of one of the most extraordinary and unexplained phenomena

* Lardner's " Handbook of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy." (3072).
94

PHENOMENA OF BIELA*S COMET.

ever witnessed in the heavens, which has been not only seen,
but observed with the most scrupulous accuracy in our own
times.

A periodical comet, called Biela's from its discoverer, revolves
round the sun in an oval orbit of 6| years. On the occasion of its
appearance in 1846, it was seen to resolve itself into two distinct
comets, which, from the latter end of December, 1845, to the
epoch of its disappearance in April, 1846, moved in distinct and
independent orbits. The paths of these two bodies were in such
optical juxtaposition, that both were always seen together in the
field of view of the telescope, and the greatest visual angle between
their centres did not amount to more than a third of the apparent
breadth of the moon.

M. Plantamour, director of the Observatory of Geneva, calculated
the orbits of these two comets, considered as independent bodies ;
and found that the real distance between their centres was,
subject to but little variation while visible, about thirty-nine
semi-diameters of the earth, or two-thirds of the moon's
distance. The comets moved on thus side by side, without
manifesting any reciprocal disturbing action ; a circumstance no
way surprising, considering the infinitely minute masses of such
bodies.

The original comet was apparently a globular mass of nebulous
matter, semi-transparent at its very centre, no appearance of a
tail being discoverable. After the separation, both comets had
short tails, parallel in their direction, and at right angles to the
line joining their centres ; both had nuclei. From the day of
their separation the original comet decreased, and the companion
increased in brightness until (on the 10th February) they were
sensibly equal. After this the companion still increased in
brightness, and from the 14th to the 16th was not only greatly
superior in brightness to the original, but had a sharp and starlike
nucleus compared to a diamond spark. The change of brightness
was now reversed, the original comet recovering its superiority,
and acquiring on the 18th the same appearance as the companion
had from the 14th to the 16th. After this the companion gradually
faded away, and disappeared previously to the final disappearance
of the original comet on 22nd April.

It was observed also that a thin luminous line or arc was
thrown across the space which separated the centres of the two
nuclei, especially when one or the other had attained its greatest
brightness, the arc appearing to emanate from that which for the
moment was the brighter.

After the disappearance of the companion, the original comet
threw out three faint tails, forming angles of 120° with each

COMETAKY INFLUENCES.

other, one of which was directed to the place which had been
occupied by the companion.

It is suspected that the faint comet which was observed at Rome
by Prof. Secchi to precede Biela's comet in 1852, may hare been
the companion thus separated from it ; and if so, the separation
must be permanent, the distance between the parts being greater
than that which separates the earth from the sun.

'. 1 — DISTILLING APPARATUS.

COMMON THINGS.

WATER.

1. Water may be solid, liquid, or vapour. — 2. Colourless and tasteless. —
3. Its weight. — 4. Expands by heat. — 5. Point of greatest density.
— 6. Freezing-point. — 7. Boiling. — 8. Evaporation. — 9. Heat ab-
sorbed in evaporation, — 10. Superficial evaporation. — 11. Saturation
of air by vapour. — 12. Process of drying. — 13. Case of roads and
paths. — 14. Drying linen. — 15. "Wind promotes drying. — 16. Water
never naturally pure. — 17. Contains fixed air. — 18. And other sub-
stxinces in solution — Hard water. — 19. Soft water. — 20. Mineral
springs. — 21. Filtration. — 22. Filtering-paper. — 23. Artificial niters.
— 24. Water not absolutely colourless. — 25. How to obtain water
absolutely pure. — 26. Rain water nearly so. — 27. River water. —
Thames water. — 28. Water not an element — Its composition. —
29. Methods of purifying it. — 30. Distillation of water. — 31. Conver-
sion of vapour into water. — 32. Weight of vapour. — 33. Condensation.
— 34. Distilling apparatus. — 35. Composition and decomposition. — 36.
Oxygen and hydrogen. — 37. Hydrogen. — 38. Fitted for balloons. — 39.
Inflammable. — 40. Water produced by combining oxygen and hydrogen.
— 41. Apparatus for this experiment. — 42. Composition of water. —
43. Analysis of water.. — 44. By voltaic current. — 45. By other methods.
— 46. By potassium and sodium. — 47. By iron.

LAKDNER'S MUSEUM OF SCIENCE. H 97

No. 18.

COMMON THINGS. — WATER.

1. NEXT to air water is the most common of natural substances. It
is less universally present, and although the uses to which it
subserves are not less numerous and important, the want of it on
the part of the animal and vegetable creation cannot be regarded
as so incessant.

"Water, according to certain varying physical conditions, may
exist either in the solid, liquid, or vaporous state. It is perhaps in
the last state that it is most universally diffused over the surface
of the globe ; but not being so obvious to the senses as it is when
in the former two states, it is not recognised except by those who
are familiar with the scientific tests of its presence.

It is therefore in the liquid form that we are most familiar
with it.

2. At ordinary temperatures, and exposed to common atmos-
pheric conditions, pure water is a colourless and tasteless liquid,
having great transparency.

3. Its weight in relation to its bulk is very easily remembered,
for it has been found that a cubic foot weighs almost exactly a
thousand ounces, the temperature being 60°, the ordinary tem-
perature of the atmosphere in these climates.

It may also be easily remembered that an imperial gallon of
pure water, at this temperature, weighs 10 lb., and consequently
that an imperial pint or the eighth part of a gallon weighs 1£ lb.

4. All liquids expand or swell when heated, and contract when
cooled. This is a general fact with which every one is familiar.
"Water is not an exception to this. A gallon of boiling water will
be less than a gallon when it becomes cold, and a gallon of cold
water will be more than a gallon when it is heated.

"Water is therefore rendered more dense, that is to say, heavier
in a% given bulk, by cooling it, and less dense, that is lighter in a
given bulk, by heating it.

5. There is, however, at a certain point in the thermal scale, a
very striking exception to this general law in the case of water.
If it be gradually cooled, its dimensions will continually contract,
and it will become denser and denser until its temperature is
reduced to SS0-^ of Fahrenheit's thermometer. But when it is
cooled below that point, instead of contracting, it is found to
expand ; instead of becoming denser and heavier, it becomes less
dense and lighter.

"Water, therefore, .bulk for bulk, is heavier and denser at the
temperature of 38°-^ than at any other temperature, whether
higher or lower.

This is therefore called the " temperature of greatest density."

6. "When the temperature is reduced to 32° water becomes solid.
This change from the liquid to the solid is called congelation

98

FEEEZIXG AND , BOIL1XG.

or freezing, and the temperature 32° at which it takes place, is
called the freezing point of water.

7. If water be exposed to any source of heat, such as a fire or
a lamp, it will, as may be naturally imagined, become continually
hotter and hotter, but this increase of heat will not be unlimited.
It will, on the contrary, after a certain continuance of the action
of the fire or lamp upon it, attain a degree of heat or temperature
which it will never exceed, however intense or long continued the
action of the fire may be. In the ordinary state of the atmos-
phere, this temperature is that marked 212° on the thermometer.
If a thermometer be immersed in the water, it will stand constantly
at this temperature, although the action of the fire upon the water
still continues.

When the water attains this stationary point of temperature it
will be observed to be affected by a violent agitation throughout
every part of it. Bubbles of vapour are formed at the parts of
the vessel which are next the fire, and these rising with a certain
violence, escape continually from the surface and produce the
peculiar agitation of the liquid which has been just mentioned.

This state of water is called EBULLITION or BOILING, and the
stationary temperature of 212°, at which it takes place, is called
the BOILING POINT of the thermal scale.

8. Until the water exposed to the action of fire has attained the
boiling-point, the heat imparted to it is employed in raising its
temperature, or, in familiar language, in rendering it hotter. But
after it has attained the limit of its temperature, and ceases to be
rendered hotter, the fire still continues to impart the same heat to
it, and it may be asked, What becomes of this heat ? How is it
absorbed, employed or disposed of? since it is certain that the
water does not receive it.

This is easily explained. The water which the vessel contains
does not become hotter, and therefore can receive none of the heat
imparted by the fire, but it is rapidly converted into vapour,
and this vapour, escaping continually from the surface of the water,
rises into the air. The quantity of water in the vessel is con-
tinually diminished by the quantity thus escaping in the form of
vapour, and if the process be continued, the water will altogether
disappear from the vessel, being all converted into vapour.

The heat, then, imparted by the fire, in this case, and which fails
to augment the temperature of the water in the vessel, is altogether
absorbed by the vapour into which the water is converted. This
vapour, it is true, is not hotter than the water in which it is
formed, its temperature, like that of the water, being 212° ; but
it is proved by experiments, made in the laboratories of chemists
and philosophers, that much more heat is required to impart to
n2 99

COMMON THINGS. — WATER.

vapour the temperature of 212° than to impart the same tempera-
ture to water, and it is in raising, the vapour formed from the
water to the temperature of the water itself that the entire quantity
of heat received from the fire is absorbed.

9. Thus it is found that a given weight of water at 212° when
it passes into vapour, absorbs as much heat as would be sufficient
to raise five and a half times the same quantity of water from the
freezing to the boiling-point.

10. It is not alone when raised to the boiling-point that water
is converted into vapour. It is vapcurisable more or less at all
temperatures, and it has been ascertained that a vapour is produced
even from ice. But the evaporation which takes place from water
below the boiling-point, is produced in a different manner, and
under different conditions. At the boiling-point, water is con-
verted into vapour at all points and at every depth, and most
abundantly at those parts where it is in contact with the surface
of the vessel upon which the fire acts. But at other temperatures
the evaporation is altogether superficial. The vapour is evolved
from the surface of the water above, and rises into and mingles
with the stratum of air which rests on the surface of the water.
This evaporation is also infinitely less rapid and copious than that
which is produced by raising the whole mass of water to the
boiling-point, and maintaining it at that point.

11. The stratum of air which rests upon the surface of water
may be regarded as a medium which has a certain limited power
of absorbing the vapour of the water, exactly as a sponge receives
liquid water into its numerous pores. The air, like the sponge,
has a limited capacity for vapour, and it may become so charged
with vapour as to be incapable of absorbing more. The air in this
case is said to be saturated with vapour.

Evaporation from the surface of water, therefore, takes place
more or less freely and copiously as the air is more or less below
the point of saturation; and when the air has already attained the
point of saturation all evaporation ceases.

12. The process of drying moist or wet objects is an example of
the effects of evaporation. The moisture upon the surface, or in
the texture or pores of the object is evaporated by exposure to the
air, and the object becomes free from moisture, or dry. This
evaporation takes place so much the more rapidly as the air is
below the point of saturation, and so much the more slowly as it
is nearer to that point.

13. Every one is familiar with the fact, that wet roads and
footpaths will on some days be dried in a few hours, while on
others they will continue wet without any marks of drying.
These are mere consequences of the state of the air in relation to

100

EVAPORATION— DRYING.

the vapour with -which it is charged. In the former case it is
under- charged, and therefore readily receives the evaporation from
the roads and footways, which accordingly become dry ; in the
latter it is surcharged, and is at or near its state of saturation ;
it can receive no more vapour ; no evaporation is possible, and the
roads remain wet although no rain fall.

14. Washerwomen who spread linen in the air to be dried, well
know that the facility of drying it varies on different days.
Some days have no drying power, the air being saturated with
vapour. Others dry the linen easily and quickly. Then the
air is little charged with vapour, and is far below the point of
saturation. Between these there are many degrees in which the
facility of drying varies.

15. Wind stimulates evaporation, and therefore expedites drying.
This is easily explained. So fast as the stratum of air over water
becomes charged with vapour and raised towards its point of satu-
ration, it is swept away, and a fresh portion of dry air is brought
into contact with the wet surface. This in its turn is swept away,
giving place to another dry portion of air, and so on. In this way,
all moist objects exposed to wind or currents of air are speedily dried.

"Wet objects are quickly dried when exposed to artificial heat,
the moisture they contain being rapidly evaporated.

16. Water when absolutely pure is without taste, and insipid.
But in its natural state water never is pure. Spring water raised
from inferior strata of the ground has always various earthy and
saline matters dissolved in it. In fact, every constituent of the
strata from which it has been raised, or through which it may
have passed, which is soluble in water, is necessarily dissolved in
it in greater or less quantity. River water contains more or less
of all the soluble constituents which it encounters either at its
sources or on the beds and banks of the channels through which it
has passed, besides the soluble parts of various dead animal and
vegetable matter which it inevitably receives in its course.

17. All water in its natural state contains more or less fixed
air mixed with it. This is most commonly carbonic acid. This
gas, which is the same as that which effervesces in soda water,
lemonade, champagne, and bottled malt liquors, gives to the
flavour of water a certain agreeable pungency.

18. Water acquires very various flavours and other qualities,
according to the nature of the substances which it holds in solu-
tion. Spring water, in general, even when it is most pure, holds
lime ana silicious earths in solution. It is from these that it
acquires the quality popularly called hardness. It will not easily
mix with soap, and it is not suited to culinary purposes.

19. Water which is free from this quality, and which holds but

101

COMMON THINGS. — WATER.

little earthy matter in solution, is called, on the contrary, soft water.
Bain water and river water is in general soft, although the latter
is never free from some portion of earthy combination.

20. Mineral springs are examples of water holding peculiar
mineral salts in solution, in quantities so considerable and of
qualities so peculiar as to render it altogether unfit for common use.
It acquires, however, from these, peculiar medicinal virtues.

21. "Water generally holds suspended in it various impurities
which are not dissolved in it. Muddy water is an extreme
example of this. But without being actually muddy, water often
has many impurities, suspended without being dissolved in it. AIL
such impurities are removed by FILTEATIOX.

22. In chemical researches, where the quantities of liquid operated
on are usually small, a species of paper, called filtering paper, is
used. This is white unsized paper, which is formed into a conical
bag, and placed in a glass funnel of corresponding shape. The
liquid to be filtered is made to pass slowly thsough the pores of the
paper, by which it is strained of the foreign matter suspended in it.

23. The filters used in the arts and in domestic economy for the
purification of water have been very various. An open grained
stone from Teneriffe was formerly much used for this purpose, as
also porous unglazed earthenware. These have been more recently,
however, completely superseded by a variety of artificial filtering
apparatus, which for the most part consist of strata of gravel, sand,
and charcoal powder, through which the foul water is pressed by
its own weight, and by which it is very effectually strained of its
solid impurities.

24. It has been stated that water is transparent and colourless ;
and, so far as respects any moderate quantity of the liquid which
is submitted to observation, this is true. But, strictly speaking,
water is neither absolutely transparent nor absolutely destitute of
colour. If we look into the sea, where the water has any consider-
able depth, we find that its colour is a peculiar tint of blue ; but
if, however, we take up a glass of the water, which thus appears
blue, we shall find it limpid and colourless. The reason of this
is, that the quantity of water contained in the glass reflects to the
eye too small a quantity of the colour to be perceivable ; while the
great mass of water viewed when we look into the deep sea,
throws up the colour in such abundance as to produce a strong
and decided perception of it.

The same is true of all transparent coloured liquids. Sherry in
a decanter has a deep golden colour. Seen through the thin
stem of a tapering champagne glass it appears paler and paler,
until towards the point of the cone it loses all colour.

It is probable that the colour of water arises partly from the
102

FILTRATION RAIN AND RIVER WATER.

substances which it holds in solution. The fresh water of a lake
has a colour different from that of the salt water of the sea. How
far the colour of water may arise from the various substances
which it holds in solution is difficult to decide, inasmuch as we
caiinot obtain a sufficient quantity of water absolutely pure to bo
enabled to ascertain its proper colour.

25. It appears from what has been explained that filtration
only disengages from water the solid impurities which may be
mechanically mixed with or suspended in it ; and if all water in
the natural state holds in solution more or less foreign matter, it
may be asked how water absolutely pure can be obtained ?

It must be observed that, for all ordinary purposes, water
chemically pure would be less suitable than such water as is com-
monly obtained. For alimentary purposes, absolutely pure water
would be neither agreeable nor sanitary. For culinary and
domestic purposes such purity is not needed.

26. Of all water found in the natural state, rain water is the
purest. But this, as commonly obtained, having first fallen on
the roofs of buildings, and then passed through pipes and conduits
to the reservoirs in which it is collected, takes up and dissolves
more or less of the impurities formed upon the surfaces over which
it passes. To obtain rain water in perfect purity, it must therefore
be received directly as it falls in clean vessels. But even then it is
found to be impregnated more or less with air, and especially with
carbonic acid, which it absorbs from the atmosphere, Minute por-
tions of ammoniacal salts are also found in it, and if it fall near the
sea, it has generally a small portion of common salt in solution.
Rain which falls during thunder storms has often traces of nitric
acid, formed probably by the effect of the atmospheric electricity.

27. Xext to rain water, river water is the purest. The
Thames water, where it is not polluted by the drainage of the
metropolis, is found to contain no more than two grains of foreign
matter in solution in a pint. The matter which it thus holds in
solution is principally carbonate and sulphate of lime, common salt,
chloride of magnesium, and animal matter. A gallon of Thames
water in its most impure state, when properly filtered, does not
contain more than twenty-four grains of earthy or saline matter,
and in its purest state not less than sixteen grains.

When water is contaminated by animal and vegetable matter,
if kept for some time, it undergoes a spontaneous purification,
losing its offensive odour and colour, and depositing more or less
sediment. Water for the supply of ships is well known to undergo
this process of purification by fermentation, and the larger the
quantity of destructible matter suspended in it, the more complete
and rapid is its purification. A preference is given to Thames

103

COMMON THINGS. — WATER.

water for marine stores on this account, the more pure river water
fermenting less rapidly, and remaining more or less foul and
putrid for a much longer time.

For the supply of London, however, where this spontaneous
purification is not to be waited for, it is obvious that the water
should be taken from that part of the river above Richmond which
is beyond the influence of the tides, and where it is not liable to
be polluted by the contents of the sewers, the offal of manufac-
tories, and the mud stirred up by steamers.

28. Water was supposed by the ancients to be one of the
elements or simple substances of which all others are composed.
It was ascertained, however, towards the close of the last century,
that it is a compound of two substances as different in their form
and properties from water itself as can well be imagined. Water
is a heavy liquid. Its constituents are light gases, one of them
being the lightest material substance ever yet discovered. Water
is an antagonist of fire. One of its constituents is the most highly
combustible substance in nature, and the other is a gas whose
presence is necessary to fire, and hence called a supporter of com-
bustion. In order to demonstrate the composition of water, it is
necessary, in the first instance, to obtain that liquid absolutely pure,
and it has been already stated that it is never so found naturally.

29. All fixed air with which water is charged may be dismissed
from it by boiling ; but to separate it from such matters as it
may hold in solution, it must be submitted to the process of

DISTILLATION.

30. The principle of distillation is easily explained.

If water which holds in solution any earthy or saline substance
be raised to its boiling point, it will be converted into vapour, but
the substance it holds in solution will not be so converted. As
the water is gradually evaporated, the substance held in solution
remaining undiminished, the solution first is rendered stronger
and more concen'Tated, inasmuch as the same quantity of saline
matter is dissolved in a less quantity of water. As the process
goes on, the entire quantity of water will at length be evaporated,
and the earthy or saline matters which it held in solution will
remain in the vessel in which the evaporation takes place. This
is an experiment which may be tried by any person. Let a table-
spoonful of water, in which salt has been dissolved, be held for
some minutes over the flame of a spirit lamp. The liquid will
boil, and will soon be entirely converted into vapour, the salt alone
remaining in the spoon.

31. But when it is the object, as in distillation, to obtain, not the
matters held in solution by the water, but the pure water itself
separated from these matters, it is necessary to prevent the vapour

104

DISTILLATION OF WATER.

from escaping1, and to reconvert it into water. Now, as water is
converted into vapour by heat, so, on the other hand, vapour is
reconverted into water by cold. If, therefore, an apparatus be so
constructed that as the vapour rises from the boiling water it
shall be received into a close vessel where it is exposed to the
contact of a cold surface, it will be restored to the liquid form, and
being collected in that state, it will be so much pure water ; pure,
at least, so far as it has been separated from the substances which
it held in solution before it underwent the process of evaporation.

32. The vapour of water is many hundred times lighter, bulk
for bulk, than water itself. It has resulted from accurately
conducted experiments, that a gallon of water evaporated at the
temperature of 212° will produce nearly 1800 gallons of vapour.
It follows, therefore, that when vapour is reconverted into water
by exposure to cold, a very great volume of it will produce a very
small volume of water. Thus, to produce a gallon of pure water,
we must have nearly 1800 gallons of vapour.

33. It is for this reason that the conversion of vapour into water
has been called CONDENSATION, and the apparatus in which such
change is produced has been called a CONDENSEE. The vapour
is condensed, because it is reduced to a bulk 1800 times less, and
is, therefore, rendered 1800 times denser and heavier.

The process by which water is first converted into vapour and
then restored to the state of water is called distillation, from a
Latin word DISTILLATIO, which signifies " falling in drops." The
conversion of the vapour into liquid in the condenser usually
proceeds so slowly that the liquid falls from the spout of the
condenser, not in a continuous stream, but in a succession of drops.

34. In the industrial arts, and in chemical laboratories, where
water absolutely pure is needed in considerable quantities, its distil-
lation is conducted in an apparatus which is represented in fig. 1.

This distilling apparatus, or alembic, consists of a copper boiler,
A., fixed in a brick furnace, having a dome-formed cover, B,
adapted to it, from which a bent tube, b c rf, proceeds, and is con-
nected with a spiral tube called a worm. This worm is inclosed in
a large cylindrical cistern, p qjr, constructed in metal, and which
is kept constantly filled with cold water. The lowest part of the
worm passes out of this cistern near its bottom, and terminates at
ft, over the mouth of a jar, c, intended to receive the distilled
water. An opening, £, having a steam-tight stepper, is provided
in the boiler, through which the water to be distilled is introduced
into it.

The vapour issuing from the boiler through the tube, bed, passes
into the worm, being first received by the vessel, o, where the
condensation begins.

105

COMMON THINGS. — WATER.

Passing next through the coils of the worm, it is exposed to the
contact of its cold surface, and is entirely condensed and reduced
to the liquid state before it arrives at the lower extremity, a, from
which it trickles in drops into the jar, c.

The heat disengaged from the vapour in the process of conden-
sation being constantly imparted to the water in the cistern,
P QJ r> that water would be gradually warmed, and if it were not
discharged and replaced by cold water, it would no longer keep
the worm cold enough to condense the vapour. A supply of cold
water is therefore introduced through a pipe, T T, while the
heated water flows away through the pipe of discharge, o.

Heated water being lighter, bulk for bulk, than cold water, will
float upon the latter without mixing with it, unless the liquid be
agitated. The cold water, therefore, being introduced at the
lowest part, T, of the cistern, will form the inferior strata, while
the heated water will collect at the superior strata, and being
pressed upwards by the cold water will flow out at o. The supply
pipe, p, which feeds the pipe, TT, and the discharge pipe,- o,
may be, and generally are, so regulated that the water discharged
from o is very little below the temperature of the vapour coming
from the boiler, while the water of the lowest strata is as cold as
the external atmosphere. The vapour, therefore, which enters at
(?, is at first only partially condensed, the condensation being
rapidly increased, as winding through the worm it passes in
contact with a surface colder and colder, until, at length, arriving
at the lowest coil, it is wholly condensed.

The heated water which flows from the discharge pipe, o, may
be used to feed the boiler, E ; and being already at a high tempe-
rature, an economy of fuel is thus effected.

When extreme purity is required in the distilled water, it is
evaporated at a temperature lower than 212°, because at that
temperature a certain small portion of the foreign matters which
it holds in solution sometimes go over in the vaporous state
through the worm, and are ultimately deposited in the jar, c.
The lower the temperature at which the water in the boiler is
evaporated, the less of this impurity will pass through the worm.

By these expedients, with proper precautions, water absolutely
pure, and entirely free from all foreign matter, may be obtained.

35. It remains now to show how the compound nature of this
liquid can be demonstrated, and the characters and proportions of
its constituents ascertained.

This may be accomplished by either of two methods ; by
COMPOSITION or DECOMPOSITION, or, if the Greek derivatives be
preferred, by SYNTHESIS or ANALYSIS.

The method by synthesis presumes the previous knowledge of
106

ANALYSIS OF WATER.

the constituents, and consists in showing, that by combining these
constituents water may be produced.

The method by analysis presumes the previous discovery of some
physical agent capable of overpowering the mutual attraction by
which the constituents of water are held together, and tearing
them asunder, and exhibiting them separated one from the other,
so that their characters and properties may be ascertained.

Since the question itself is of the very highest interest and
importance, and since both the methods of synthesis and analysis
are in themselves most instructive and easily intelligible, we shall
here explain them.

36. There are two airs or gases known to chemists, and denomi-
nated oxygen and hydrogen.

A general idea of oxygen and its leading properties has been
already given in our Tract on Air.

Hydrogen, like gases in general, is an invisible colourless air,
which when perfectly pure is without taste or odour. But as
commonly produced it is mixed with very minute proportions of
impurities, which impart to it a peculiarly disagreeable odour,
with which every one is rendered familiar by the occasional
leakage of the pipes used for gas-lighting.

37. This gas is the lightest of all material substances, being
bulk for bulk more than fourteen times as light as common air.

38. For this reason it is eminently fitted for the inflation of air-
balloons. Two thousand cubic feet of this gas will weigh only
about 11 Ibs., while the same volume of common air will weigh
about 160 Ibs. A balloon, therefore, which would contain 2000
cubic feet of hydrogen would have a buoyancy or tendency to
ascend, amounting to 149 Ibs., and if the silk bag, cordage, and
car, with its load, have less than this weight, it will have an
ascensional force equal to the excess.

39. Hydrogen is one of the most inflammable bodies in nature.
It burns with a very pale bluish flame, giving very little light,
but intense heat.

40. If a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases be introduced
into a strong glass vessel, and be shut into it by closing the stop-
cock in the pipe by which the gases are introduced, an electric
spark transmitted through the mixture will inflame the hydrogen
gas, and an explosion will take place, after which the glass vessel
will appear to be filled with vapour, and will acquire an increased
temperature. When, after a short interval, it cools, the inside
surface of the glass will appear to be bedewed. "Water will trickle
down the sides. A certain quantity of gas will remain in the
vessel. If this gas be examined by the usual tests it will be found
that it is no longer a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, but is one

107

COMMON THINGS. WATER.

Fig. 2.

or the other gas in its separate and pure state. Whether it bo
pure and unmixed oxygen, or pure and unmixed hydrogen, will
depend on the proportions in which the gases were originally
mixed in the vessel before the explosion.

41. There are many forms of apparatus by means of which this
important experiment may be performed. One of them is repre-
sented in fig. 2.

A cylindrical vessel, D E, wider at the top than below, is filled
with mercury. A graduated tube, B c, of thick and strong glass,

about an inch in diameter,
closed at one end, B, and
open at the other, c, being
filled with mercury and
stopped by the hand at the
open end, is inserted and
plunged in the mercury in
the cistern, D E. The mer-
cury will not fall out of B c,
because the atmospheric
pressure acting on the ex-
ternal surface of the mer-
cury in D E will support it.
The gases, oxygen and
hydrogen, may now be
introduced into B c, by dis-
charging them in the mer-
cury under the open mouth
of the tube, B c. They will
rise in bubbles through the
mercury, and will displace
a portion of that liquid in
the top of the tube, B c. In this manner any desired proportions
of the gases may be introduced into the tube, B c, limited only by
the capacity of the tube.

Near the top of the tube, B c, two small holes on opposite sides
are bored, through which two pieces of platinum wire are inserted,
terminating inside and outside in knobs. The inside knobs are
close to each other, without being actually in contact. When the
knob of a charged electric jar is presented to B, while A is con-
nected by a metallic chain with the outside coating of the jar, the
electric discharge will pass between the two inner knobs, and will
inflame the hydrogen contained in the tube, B c.

It is in experimental researches of this kind more convenient to
express the quantities of the gases by their measures as indicated
by the graduation of the tube, B c. It will render this explanation,
108

COMPOSITION OF WATEE.

however, more easily intelligible to express them by their
weig:

Let us then suppose, in the first instance, that 1 grain of
hydrogen and 12 grains of oxygen are contained inBC. "When
the electric discharge is transmitted, the hydrogen inflamed, and
the tube, B c, cooled, water and gas, as already stated, will be
found in it. If the water be exactly weighed, it will be found to
amount to 9 grains, and the gas will amount to 4 grains. If
these 4 grains of gas be examined they will be found to be pure
oxygen. Thus this residual gas will not be inflammably but if a
lighted taper be plunged in it, the flame will become larger and
brighter. In a word, it will have all the properties of pure
oxygen, explained in our Tract on Air.

It appears, then, that of the mixture of 1 grain of hydrogen and
12 grains of oxygen, which were in B c before the explosion, the
entire grain of hydrogen has entered into combination with 8 of
the 12 grains of oxygen, and has produced 9 grains of water, the
other 4 grains of oxygen remaining unchanged in B c.

It follows, therefore, that the gases hydrogen and oxygen, being
combined in the proportion of 1 grain of the former to 8 of the
latter, produce water.

If 2 grains of hydrogen and 8 of oxygen had been introduced
into B c, the explosion would still produce 9 grains of water, but
in this case the residual gas would be 1 grain of hydrogen. Thus
1 of the two grains of hydrogen, combining with the 8 grains of
oxygen, would produce 9 grains of water, while the other grain
of hydrogen would remain in its pure and separate state.

If 1 grain of hydrogen and 8 of oxygen had been introduced
into B c, the explosion would have converted the whole of the
gases into 9 grains of water, and no residual gas whatever would
be found in B c.

From all this we must infer that water is a compound liquid, whose
constituents are the two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, combined in
the proportion of 8 parts by weight of the former to 1 of the latter.

42. It follows, therefore, that one-ninth part of water, the natural
antagonist of fire, is the most inflammable of bodies, and the other
eight-ninths is a body without whose presence fire cannot exist.

Having thus explained the manner in which water is produced
by the combination of its two constituents in due proportion, it
now remains to show how the liquid itself may be resolved into
its constituent gases.

43. There are several methods of accomplishing this, but the
most direct and simple is by submitting water to the action of a
voltaic current of sufficient force. It has been proved that the
poles of a voltaic battery have specific attractions for different

109

COMMON THINGS. — WATER.

Fig. 3.

bodies ; the positive pole for some, and the negative for others.
Now it happens that of all natural bodies that for which the
positive pole has the strongest attraction is oxygen, and one of
those for which the negative pole has a strong relative attraction
is hydrogen. If, therefore, under certain conditions the two poles
be brought to act on water, it may be ex-
pected that its decomposition will ensue, the
oxygen being disengaged at the positive,
and the hydrogen at the negative pole, and
this in fact does take place.

44. Various forms of apparatus have been
contrived for the exhibition of this experi-
ment. The most simple and instructive is
represented in fig. 3.

Two small holes are pierced near the
bottom of a wine-glass, through which the
ends of two wires, G and H, being inserted,
so as to rise to the height of an inch or
two near each other in the glass, they are
cemented in the holes by mastic. These
wires are put in connection, one with the
positive or -}- pole, and the other with the
negative or — pole of a voltaic battery.
Water, slightly acidulated to give it more
conducting power for electricity, is then
poured into the glass, and two graduated glass tubes, A B and c D,
each about half an inch in their interior diameter, being first filled
with acidulated water, and being stopped at the open ends by the
hand, are inverted and immersed in the glass, one over each of the
wires. The water will then be supported in the tubes by the
atmospheric pressure.

The electric current will now immediately begin to flow from
the extremity of one wire through the water to the extremity of
the other, and by its attraction the water will be decomposed, the
oxygen constituent being attracted to the extremity of the positive,
and the hydrogen to that of the negative wire. These gases will
be therefore disengaged at the points of the wires as if they
issued from them, as they would from small apertures in vessels
containing them. They will be seen rising rapidly in small
bubbles in each of the tubes, in the upper parts of which they
will collect, displacing the water and pressing it downwards.
After a short time, the tube containing the negative wire will be
filled with gas, the water being totally expelled from it from the
top to the level of the water in the glass, and at the same time
the tube over the positive wire will be half filled.
110

DECOMPOSITION OF WATER.

Thus it appears, the tubes being of equal capacity, that the
volumes of the two gases produced are in the proportion of 2
to 1, the volume of hydrogen being twice that of oxygen.

It will be further observed, that continually throughout the pro-
cess of the experiment, the same proportion is maintained between
the volumes of the gases evolved. At every stage of the process,
the volume of hydrogen, c F, evolved, is found to be exactly double
that of the oxygen, A E.

But a comparison of the weights of these two gases, bulk for bulk,
proves that oxygen is sixteen times heavier than hydrogen. It
follows from this that the weight of the double volume of hydrogen
evolved in the experiment here described, will be exactly one-eighth
of the single volume of oxygen simultaneously evolved.

Thus it appears that the water is decomposed by the voltaic cur-
rent, and that its constituents are the gases oxygen and hydrogen, in
the proportion of 8 parts by weight of oxygen to 1 of hydrogen.

46. Certain metals which are obtained in the laboratories of
chemists, though unknown in the arts, such as potassium and
sodium, have so strong an attraction for oxygen that they cannot be
exposed in the atmosphere without spontaneously combining with
that constituent of it. If a piece of one of these metals be plunged
in water, it will exert an attraction on the oxygen of the water so
powerful as to separate it from, the hydrogen. The oxygen will,
in virtue of this attraction, desert the hydrogen, and, combining
with the potassium or the sodium, will form potash or soda, while
the hydrogen, disengaged in the form of gas, may be collected in a
glass receiver in the usual way. If the potash or soda thus pro-
duced be weighed, it will be found to be heavier than the potassium
or sodium, by the weight of the oxygen which has entered into
combination with it, and this excess of weight will be exactly
eight times the weight of the hydrogen which is disengaged ; from
which it follows as before that water consists of 8 parts by weight
of oxygen and 1 of hydrogen.

47. None of the metals commonly used in the arts have an
attraction for oxygen sufficiently energetic to effect thus sponta-
neously the decomposition of water. The attraction, however, of
some of them — iron, for example — may be so exalted by elevation
of temperature that it may, by means of certain arrangements,
produce a like effect.

An apparatus for the decomposition of water, by means of
heated iron, is represented in fig. 4.

A porcelain tube, a 6, the middle part of the length of which is
filled with fragments of fine iron wire, is inserted across a furnace,
by means of which the tube may be heated, so that the iron
it contains shall be red-hot. One end, a, communicates by a

111

COMMON THINGS. WATER.

rectangular tube with a glass vessel containing water, placed
upon a charcoal fire, or supported over a spirit lamp. The other
end, 6, communicates by a bent tube, bed, with a glass tube filled
with water, inverted and immersed in a capsule or dish containing
water. The water is supported in the tube, as in the former expe-
riments, by the atmospheric pressure. If gas issue from the
mouth of the tube, d, which is bent under that of the wide tube
containing the water, this gas will rise in bubbles, displacing the
water in the top of the tube.

These arrangements being made, and the iron contained in the
tube, a 6, being rendered red-hot, the water in the glass vessel is
made to boil. The vapour proceeding from it entering the tube
a b at a, forces its way through the interstices of the red-hot iron
wire; there it is decomposed, the iron attracting the oxygen,

Fig. 4.

with which it combines, forming a substance called the oxide of
iron, which is familiarly known as rust. The hydrogen alone
issues from the tube at 6, and passing through bed rises into
the large tube, displacing the water, as represented in the figure.

When a sufficient quantity of gas is collected, its weight is ascer-
tained, and also the increase of weight imparted to the iron wire in
the tube, a 6, by the oxygen which has been combined with it, and it
is always found that the latter is exactly eight times the former.

Thus we still find the same remarkable fact reproduced in
various forms. The rusted wire is heavier than the original
clean wire by the weight of the oxygen which it has attracted
from the aqueous vapour, and which, combining with it, forms
the rust; and this weight is eight times that of the hydrogen
from which it has been separated, showing as before that water
consists of 8 parts by weight of oxygen and 1 of hydrogen.
112

Tig. 11.

HE CELEBRATED COP OF ARCESILAU?, IX FLAX, WORK OF THE CYF.ENIAX
POTTERS CONTEMPORARY WITH PINDAK, 500 B.C.

THE POTTER'S ART.

CHAPTER I.

1. Antiquity and general estimation of the art. — 2. Its materials and their
treatment. — 3. Potter's -wheel. — 4. Allusions to the art found in
ancient writers. — 5. Ancient drawings in Theban catacombs. —
6. Processes of potters 1900 B.C. — 7. Homer and the potters of
Samos. — 8. Ancient tombs containing pottery excavated near Naples.
— 9. Proofs of their antiquity. — 10. Campanian sepulchral chamber
with pottery. — 11. German sepulchres. — 12. Cup of Arcesilaus.- —
13. Ancient Greek potters. — 14. Chinese traditions of pottery.- —
15. Chinese pottery found at Thebes. — 16. Porcelain works of King
Te Tching. — 17. Processes practised there.

1. AFTEB the fabrication of weapons for personal defence and
the procuring of food, and that of some rude species of clothing,
the formation of vessels from "baked clay is the most ancient
LARDXER'S MUSEUM OF SCIENCE. r 113

No. 19.

THE POTTER S ART.

of industries; and it is worthy of note, that, simple as were
its original processes and rude its primitive productions, no art
has more ministered to luxury ; none has produced more gor-
geous specimens of ornamentation ; in none does the value of
the finished article bear so enormous a ratio to that of the raw
materials ; none has so steadily and continuously advanced and
improved with the progress of knowledge ; none is more largely
indebted to the resources and discoveries of science ; nor has
any more constantly received the homage of the great and the
admiration of mankind in all countries, and especially in those
which have attained the highest condition of civilisation and
refinement.

2. The materials of the potter are certain sorts of clay which
possess the property, when moistened with water, of acquiring
the consistency of dough. This dough being shaped into the
desired form, the water which gave it softness and plasticity
is expelled from it by evaporation, produced by exposure in
ovens to intense heat. The article is thus rendered hard and
strong, so as to retain its shape, and to resist fracture from slight
causes.

In this state however, the surface is rough and the material is
porous, so that it would imbibe any liquid in which it might be
immersed, or which might be poured into it. To give it a more
brilliant surface, and to render it impervious to liquids, it is
therefore covered with a thin coating of some vitrifiable matter,
which being exposed to the action of fire, is converted into a skin of
glass. This gives increased beauty to the article, and at the same
time renders it impermeable by liquids, and enables it also to
resist their chemical action.

The ornamentation of the article is produced either by the
beauty of form imparted to it, or by figures in relief produced by
moulds pressed upon it while yet soft, and before the process of
baking ; or, in fine, by designs painted in colours either upon the
surface before glazing, or upon the glaze. In either case the
colouring-matter is submitted to the action of fire, and the process
has more or less of the character of enamelling.

The plastic clay of the potter does not usually exist in its pure
state in the earth. It is found, on the contrary, like the metals,
mixed, or chemically combined, with many heterogeneous sub-
stances, from which it is separated by a variety of complicated
processes.

When it is reduced to a sufficient degree of purity, it is

necessary to mix with it such a proportion of water as will convert

it into a dough of a certain consistency. This is a process of some

difficulty and labour, for the water will at first be unequally

114

THE POTTER'S WHEEL.

diffused through the mass, one part being too plastic and another
part not sufficiently so. The whole is reduced to an uniform
consistency by the process of kneading, in a manner exactly
similar to that by which the dough of flour is treated in bread
making ; and, as in this latter case, the method most commonly
adopted for effecting this is by treading the dough with the feet.
This, indeed, is one of the most characteristic operations of the
potter, being quite inseparable from his art, to whatever objects it
be applied, from the making of common bricks to the fabrication
of the most splendid porcelain.

The mass of dough being spread out upon a flat surface of
stone or wood, the potter walks upon it with his naked feet,
beginning from the centre of the cake, and following a spiral
course until he reaches the circumference, after which he returns
by the same spiral to the centre.

When the proper consistency and homogeneity are thus imparted
to the dough, the next process is to give it the form of the articles
intended to be fabricated. This is effected by different methods,
according to the shape desired ; but as by far the greater number
of articles of pottery are round in their horizontal dimensions, the
method most common is as follows : —

A ball of the dough, sufficiently large for the article to be
formed, is laid upon the centre of a small horizontal circular disc of
plaster of Paris, supported on a circular stage or table which rests
on a central pillar fixed in pivots, so as to be capable of receiving a
motion of rapid rotation. This motion being imparted to the ball
of dough placed upon the table, the potter applies his hands to it,
and gives it the desired form by the gentle pressure of his
palms and fingers. The process resembles in all respects that
of turning with the lathe, only that the revolving shaft is
vertical instead of being horizontal. The rude and soft mass
of dough assumes, under the dexterous fingers of the potter,
the most symmetrical and beautiful forms with marvellous facility
and celerity.

3. This apparatus, called the " Potter's-wheel," is of high anti-
quity, being indeed co-eval with the art, and has had very nearly
the same form and arrangement in times the most ancient and the
most modern, and in parts of the earth most remote from each
other, and often among people between whom there are no traditions
of intercommunication.

The custom which prevailed in the earliest ages and in all
countries of consecrating certain articles of pottery to religious
uses, and depositing them in sarcophagi and in tombs, sometimes
with drawings representing the processes of their fabrication,
proyes the veneration in which the art was held, and has happily

1 2 115

THE POTTERS ART.

also been the means of bringing to the knowledge of modern times
its early history.

The antiquity of the art is also attested by the frequent
allusions to it in poetic writings of remote date. These allusions,
in many cases, incidentally disclose the processes of the art, and
prove their almost exact identity with those of the present age.

4. Every one is familiar with the frequent metaphors and com-
parisons taken from the processes and productions of the potter
in the Hebrew Scriptures.

' ' The Lord said to Jeremiah — arise and go down to the potter's house.
Then I went down and behold he wrought a work on the wheels. And the
vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter ; so he
made it again another vessel, and the Lord said, 0 house of Israel, cannot
I do with you as this potter ? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand
so are ye in mine." — Jer. xviii. 1 — 6.

"I will break this people and this city as one breaketh a potter's vessel."
— Jer. xix. 11.

The antiquity of the process of kneading the dough with the
feet is proved by many allusions to it in the ancient writers.

<; I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come : from the
rising of the sun shall he call upon my name, and he shall come upon
princes as upon mortar, and as tlie potter treadeth clay" — Isaiah, xli. 25.

In ancient Greek and Latin authors allusions are frequent.

Homer, describing the shield of Achilles, compares a dance by
figures forming a ring upon it, as having as much precision and
rapidity as the wheel of a potter put in motion by his hands. —
Iliad, xviii., 599—600.

For the more common sorts of ware, the potter still imparts, in
many cases, the motion to the wheel with his hands.

The wheel, however, is more generally moved by the feet, and
often by an assistant, or even by steam or other moving power,
when many of them are required to be kept in motion.

In Plautus we have —

" Vorsutior es quam rota figularis." — 3 EPID. ii. 35.
" Thou turnest more rapidly than a potter's wheel."

* ' Amphora caspit

Institui : currente rotd cur urceus exit ?" — HOR. Art. Poet. 21.

"A large vase was designed: why, as the wheel revolves, turns out a
little pitcher ? "

" Testa alta paretur

Quce tenui muro spatiosum colligat orbem :
Debetur magnus patinse, subitusque Prometheus.
Argillam,atque rotam, citius properate : sed ex hoc
Tempore jam, Csesar, figuli tua castra sequantur."

JUVENAL, Sat. iv. 131.
116

ANCIENT POTTERY.

: No, let a pot be formed, of amplest size,
Within whose slender sides the fish, dread sire,
May spread his vast circumference entire !
Bring, bring the tempered clay, and let it feel
The quick gyrations of the plastic wheel :
But, Caesar, thus forewarned, make no campaign,
Unless your potters follow in your train." — GIFFORD.

Fig. 1.

5. In the catacombs of Thebes and Beni-Hassan, which have
been proved to hare existed nineteen centuries before Christ, and
therefore 3700 to 3800 years from the present time, drawings have
been discovered, exhibiting, in a great variety of forms, the processes
of the potter's art as then practised. The annexed engravings
(fig. 1 to 5) have been copied from paintings discovered in the
catacombs of Thebes, and described by Champollion. They
exhibit the processes of the potter, from the kneading of the
dough by the feet to the removal of the baked article from the
oven.

6. Fig. 1 represents two potters kneading the paste by the pro-
cess cf treading. The hieroglyphics signify "he treads."

Fig. 2. — A man taking up the dough to form it into a mass
for the wheel. The hieroglyphics express this action.

Fig. 3. — The same man taking the ball, or prepared mass, to
the 1 otter who works at the wheel.

117

THE POTTER'S ART.

Fig. 2.

Figs. 4 and 5. — Two potters shaping an article on the wheel.
The vessel which stands between the wheels, and which also
appears in fig. 3 in a water-pot, in which the potters occasionally
dip their fingers to regulate the moisture of the dough.

Fig. 5.

118

ANCIENT POTTERY.
Fig. 6. Fig. 7.

This painting does not show how the wheel is turned, but in
another the potter is represented giving with his left hand the
motion of rotation to the wheel. When this motion, by the
repeated action of the hand, acquires a sufficient rapidity to be
continued without further impulse, both hands are applied to the
dough, as represented in the figures.

The potter (fig. 4) forms a ball of the magnitude necessary to
make a cup. The potter (fig. 5) forms the outside of the cup by
the pressure of his first finger, and the inside by his thumb.
Every one who is familiar with the action and attitude of a potter
working at the wheel, will recognise the peculiar position and
rounding of the arm in fig. 5. If the modern potter had served
his apprenticeship to him of 2000 B.C., the resemblance could not
be more exact.

A cylindrical oven, c, is represented in fig. 6. The attendant,
A, is feeding the furnace beneath it with a stick of wood ; the
flames, D, which play around the cases containing the articles to
be baked are seen issuing from the top of the oven.

Fig. 7, represents the oven after the baking has been completed
and the fire extinguished, the fire-door of the furnace being on
the other side. The potter, B, is in the act of taking out the
articles baked, and handing them to another, A, who piles them

119

THE POTTER'S AKT.

in heaps, one of which appears at his feet. The hieroglyphics
signify " He takes them out."

In the original paintings from which these drawings were taken
the masses of dough in fig. 1 to 5, have a dark grey colour. The
articles of baked pottery in fig. 7, have the reddish colour which
characterises the ancient Egyptian pottery.

It appears, therefore, from these remarkable paintings, that in
all its essential processes, the art of pottery, 4000 years ago, was
nearly what it is at present.

7. It is related in a life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus, that
the poet when blind happened one day to pass near the celebrated
potteries of Samos. The potters addressed him, and requested
him to compose a poem on their art, offering him, as a rewaid, a
selection of their vases. Homer accepted their offer, and composed
for them the hymn called the Furnace, still extant, in which are
described with singular felicity and exactitude the qualities and
excellences of the vases fabricated by these artisans, and the
accidents to which they are exposed in the process of baking.
These incidents of the oven and their effects have counterparts
so exact in the processes of the present day, that the reader of
Homer's lines might well imagine that the poet had visited a
Staffordshire pottery.

Thus it appears that in Homer's time, that is about nine or ten
centuries before Christ, the potters of Samos had already risen to-
some celebrity. According, however, to the researches of some
antiquarians, and their arguments founded on the results of excava-
tions made near Naples, known to have been the place where
ancient Greek colonists had established themselves, this art
must have been cultivated in Greece in times much more ancient
than the Homeric age.

8. The Abbe Mazzola has described and delineated, with ela-
borate minuteness, the position of tombs and skeletons found in
excavations made in Campania. Beneath a stratum of vegetable
mould, having a depth of about forty inches, and forming the richly
fertile soil for which that tract of country is so celebrated, is found
a stratum of white sandy earth, mixed with pummice stone, hard
and impenetrable by water. This stratum, which is called terra
maschia, has a thickness of about twenty inches, and beneath it is
a third stratum about thirty inches thick, composed of good black
mould. It is beneath this last stratum that the skeletons, sarco-
phagi, and accompanying vases were found.

A vertical section of the strata, showing the position and
arrangement of the skeletons and vases, in a part of the Campania,
near Nola, copied from the Treatise of Dubois Maisonneuve, on
Antique Vases, fol. 1817, is given in fig. 8.
120

POTTERY IN ANCIENT TOMBS.

Fig. S.

The vases and skeletons were found at different depths and
differently disposed. In some cases the vases alone were found,
as at d ', in others, the skeletons without, in others, included in
sarcophagi ; hut in all cases the skeletons were accompanied by
vases.

9. The Abbe Mazzola maintains, that notwithstanding the pre-
sence of pumice stone in the second stratum, it cannot be regarded
as the direct result of volcanic action. He concludes that the super-
ficial stratum of fertile earth is of comparatively recent formation,
and that at a remote epoch the second stratum of terra maschia
must have been superficial. Now, as the deposition of the bodies
and vases under the terra maschia must have preceded the com-
mencement of the formation of the present superficial stratum of
vegetable soil, and as the formation of this stratum must have
occupied a long succession of ages, he argues that the vases found
below the terra maschia must have a date long anterior to that of
Homer. He adds, in support of this inference, that these vases
represent scenes which have never been alluded to, or described
by Homer or succeeding poets, such as the combat of Neptune
and Ephialtes ; that these skeletons found at Nola are always

121

THE POTTER S ART.

Fig. 9.

buried immediately in the ground, while elsewhere, as for
example, at Avila, they are included in sepulchres ; that the
inscriptions on the vases are written in the primitive Greek, to
be read from right to left, like Hebrew and other oriental lan-
guages ; and, in fine, that the lateness of their discovery is to be
explained by the fact that the strata beneath which they were
deposited consisted of stone not used for building by the Romans,
but used for that purpose in modern times.

A more distinct notion of the disposition of vases in the
ancient tombs may be obtained from the drawings, on a larger
scale and with more detail, given by d'Hancarvillc and other
antiquarian writers.

10. As an example of a Campanian sepulchral chamber, we
give fig. 9, representing a tomb discovered in the neighbour-
hood of Naples, showing the relative • position of the body and
the vases.

11. In fig. 10 is represented the tomb of a German family, in-
cluding two skeletons with urns, found in the excavation of a
tumulus at Unterwelden, near Oberfarrenstadt.

12. Most of the numerous Greek vases which have been recovered
in modern excavations, belong to the sixth or seventh century before

122

ANCIENT SEPULCHRAL POTTERY.
Fig. 10.

Christ, and to later dates. Specimens of these were already rare
and much prized in the time of Julius Caesar.

Among the most admired and interesting of these may he men-
tioned the celehrated cup of Arcesilaus. This vase is represented in
planinfig. 11, (p. 113), and in elevation in fig. 12. It is preserved
in the Bibliothdque Royale, now (Decemher, 1853) Imp6riale. Its
height is 10 inches, and its diameter 11 inches.

This cup which was found at Yulci (Camino), in Etruria,
represents Arcesilaus, King of Cyrene, seated on the deck of a
vessel, the crew of which are engaged, under his superin-
tendence, in weighing baskets of asafoetida, and depositing them
in the hold.

This vase is considered to he the work of Cyrenian potters
contemporary with Pindar.

13. The names of about forty of the most celebrated potters of
Greece have been recorded in the works of philosophers, historians,
and poets. Among these the following may be mentioned : —

DrerTADEs, of SICTOX, whose works were brought to Corinth,
where they were preserved. The epoch at which this potter
flourished is unknown.

CORCEBTJS, of ATHENS, nourished in' the time of Cecrops, fifteen
centuries before Christ. He was reputed to have been the
inventor of pottery. It will, however, be shown hereafter that
this art was practised in the East at least a thousand years
earlier.

TALOS, the son of PEBDIX, sister to DJEDALTJS. This personage

123

THE POTTER'S ART.

Fig. 12.

was reputed to be the inventor of the potter's wheel. Other
mechanical inventions were also ascribed to him, among which
were the saw, the chisel, and the compasses. He was said to
have taken the idea of the saw from the back-bone of a fish. His
skill was said to have excited so violent a jealousy on the part of
his uncle Daedalus, that the latter having enticed him to the
Temple of Athena, on the Acropolis, flung him headlong from its
summit. The goddess of the shrine, however, caught him in his
fall, and metamorphosed him into a bird, to which she gave the
name PEEDIX, the Partridge.

THEEICLES, of COEINTH. According to Theophrastus, this
celebrated potter invented a composition consisting of a black
paste susceptible of an high polish, which was much prized. He
gave his name to a certain sort of vases called THEEICLEA^.

Some scholars have, however, questioned his existence altogether,
contending that the name of the vases was derived from their style
of ornamentation, which included the representation of animals,
eypia, Theria.

As in modern times, the most eminent sculptors supplied
models and designs to the Greek potters. Among these may be
named PHIDIAS, POLYCLETES, and MYEON.

14. The Chinese traditions carry back the practice of the potter's
art to a very remote epoch. Father Entrecolles, a French mis-
sionary, resided in China at the beginning of the last century, and
his letters published in Paris, in 1741, supply some curious and
interesting information on this subject. Writing in 1712, he
says, that at that time ancient porcelain was very highly prized, and
bore large prices. Articles were extant which were reputed to have
124

ANCIENT CHINESE POTTERY.

Fig. 13. Fig. 14. Fig. 15.

belonged to the Emperors YAO and CHUX, two of the most ancient
mentioned in the Chinese annals. YAO reigned in 2357 and
Cnrx in 2255 before Christ. Other authorities place the reign of
GHTTX in 2600 before Christ. It appears from the researches of
M. Stanislaus Julian that, from the time of the Emperor
HOAXG-TI, who reigned 2698 to 2599 before Christ, there had
always existed a public officer bearing the title of the Intendant of
Pottery, and that it was under the reign of Hoang-ti that the
potter's art was invented by KOUEX-OTJ. It is also certain that
porcelain, or fine pottery, was common in China in the time of the
Emperors HAX, 163 B.C.

In digging the foundations of the palaces, erected by the
dynasties of Han and Thang, from 163 B.C. to 903 A.D. great
quantities of ancient vases were found which were of a pure
whiteness, but exhibited little beauty of form or fabrication. It
was only under the dynasty of SOXG, that is to say, from 960 to
1278 A. D., the Chinese porcelain began to attain a high degree of
perfection.

15. Further evidence of the antiquity of4he potter's art in China
as well as of the existence of intercommunication between that
country and Egypt, is supplied by the discoveries of Rossellini,
"Wilkinson, and others, who found numerous Yases of Chinese
fabrication, and bearing Chinese inscriptions, in the Tombs at
Thebes. Professor Rosellini found a small vase of Chinese porce-
lain with a painting of a flower on one side, and on the other
Chinese characters not differing much from those used at the

125

THE POTTER S ART.

Fig. 1C.

present day. The tomb was of the time of the Pharaohs, a little
later than the eighteenth dynasty.

This vase, with its Chinese inscription, is represented in fig. 13,
from an exact cast made by Mr. Francis Davis.

Another of the Chinese vases, found in the Theban tombs, is
represented in fig. 14. This is preserved in the Museum of the
Louvre. The shape of the vase is that of a flat-sided flask. A
side view is given in fig. 15.

These flasks are very small. The engravings represent them of
their proper dimensions. Mr. Wilkinson thinks it probaHe that
they were brought to Egypt from India, the Egyptians having
had commercial relations with that country at a very remote
epoch, and that they came not as pieces of porcelain, but as vessels
containing some article of importation.

16. Among the articles seen at the Great Exhibition, in the
Chinese department of the Crystal Palace, was a complete collection
of the various materials employed at the great Porcelain Works of
King Te Tching. This collection consisted of the plastic clay of
which the Chinese porcelain is formed, and of the various colouring
matters with which it is decorated.

The place from which these specimens were sent is one of the
most ancient and celebrated of the porcelain manufactories still
126

POTTERIES OF KIXG-TE-TSCHIN.
Fig. 17

existing in China. Father Entrecolles, already quoted, who
resided there in 1712, stated that, at that time, there were in
operation there not less than 3000 ovens, which gave to the town
at night the appearance of one vast furnace with numerous
chimneys. He describes the earths of which the china was made
as of two kinds, called Kaolin and Petung-tse. These were brought
^ King-Te-Tschin in the form of bricks from the quarries where
the raw material is found.

The process by which these raw materials of the Chinese potter
were at that early period prepared in the quarries differed very
little from those by which the like materials are prepared for our
potters at the present day, and some of the contrivances which
have been claimed as modern inventions are merely reproductions
of what have been for ages in use in the East.

17. Some details of these processes, as they were practised in
China nearly two centuries ago, will be not less instructive than
amusing.

The process of quarrying the petung-tse is represented in
fig. 16. The mineral is detached in lumps with the mallet and
pick-axe. Two of the miners are employed at the sides of the
quarry, while a third is getting the mineral from its roof, which
is supported by a number of upright posts. A fourth workman is

127

THE POTTER'S ART.

carrying the produce of the labour of the others to the pounding
or crushing-mill represented in fig. 17. The water-wheel acting
upon the rectangular arms projecting from the shaft keeps the
latter in constant revolution. These arms act upon a series of
levers, to the opposite ends of which are attached stone sledges
faced with iron. By the action of the wheel upon the short arms
of the levers, the long arms carrying the iron-shod stone hammers
are alternately raised and let fall. Beneath each of them is placed
a trough filled with the rough lumps of petung-tse, which are thus
pounded until they are reduced to powder. A man sits near them
collecting their contents when pulverised, which he carries in
buckets to a large reservoir of water represented in fig. 18,
(p. 129), where being thrown, it is strongly agitated until it comes
to be well mixed with the water. The mixture thus produced being
allowed to remain quiescent for some moments, the grosser and
heavier parts of the mineral dust sink to the bottom, and a cream-
like liquid remains. This last is then removed in buckets and
brought to another reservoir, shown in the drawing, into which it
is thrown and agitated as before.

128

Fig. IS. — AXCIEXT CHIKESE DRAWING OF THE METHOD OF PREPARING THE
PORCELAIN CLAY FOR FABRICATION.

THE POTTER'S ART.

CHAPTER II

1. Processes of Chinese. — 2. Their materials. — 3. Petungse and kaolin.
4. Kneading and* throwing. — 5. Ovens. — 6. Majolica in Spain. —
7. Italian Lucca della Robbia. — 8. Altar-screen by him. — 9. Process
of fabrication. — 10. Productions of Italian potters. — 11. Royal pre-
sents.— 12. Decline of the art in Italy. — 13. Pottery in France —
Bernard de Palissy. — 14. His character, persecution, and death. —
15. Palissy and Henry III. in the Bastille. — 16. Style of his produc-
tions. —1 7. La belle Jardiniere. — 18. Origin of the Staffordshire potte-
ries.— 19. Discovery of salt glaze. — 20. Messrs. Elers. — 21. Astbury
discovers the use of flints. — 22. Origin and character of Josiah
Wedgwood.

1. THE grosser parts of the mineral which sink to the bottom of
the first reservoir, are then brought back to the crushing-mill,
fig. 17, and are again submitted to the action of the hammers,
and the same process is repeated at the trough, fig. 18.

The cream-like liquid thrown into the second reservoir being

LARIMER'S MUSEUM OF SCIENCE.
No. 21.

129

THE POTTERS ART.

allowed to stand for a sufficient time, all the fine matter suspended
in it at length subsides to the bottom, the water becoming clear
above. This water is then allowed to now off, when a stratum of
fine and pure petung-tse is found on the bottom of the trough.
This is then consolidated and formed by moulds, as represented in
the background of fig. 17, into bricks, in which state it is sent to
the potteries.

2. This mineral substance, which plays a part so important not
only in the Chinese potteries, but in those of other nations, is a
variety of that which mineralogists have called felspar, having a
slight admixture of quartz.

3. The PETUNG-TSE thus prepared is a white substance of the
finest imaginable grain, about two and a half times heavier than
water.

The other material used in the formation of the dough or paste,
of which the Chinese make their porcelain, called KAOLIX, is
found in very deep strata of some of their mountains, and took its
name from a mountain near King-Te-Tschin, where the first vein
of it had been discovered, which was the origin of the great pottery
works established at that place.

The manner of working and purifying the kaolin and forming
it into bricks for the potter, does not differ in any important par-
ticular from the treatment of petung-tse already described.

Kaolin, when submitted to chemical analysis, proves to be a
compound body whose constituents are silica, and alumina, or the
pure earth of clay combined with small proportions of magnesia,
potash, soda, and iron.

The earths called kaolin or china clay include these constituents
in very different proportions as found and used in different
countries. That used in the fabrication of the old Chinese porce-
lain contains 76 per cent, of silica, from 10 to 17 per cent, of
alumina, and small proportions of magnesia, potash, and soda.

The Chinese consider that it is to the kaolin that the ware owes
all its strength. They call it the nerve of the porcelain, meaning
probably the plasticity of the paste and its power to resist the
intense heat of the furnace. Hearing of the attempts of the
European potters (before their discovery of china clay) to make
porcelain of petung-tse or felspar alone, they ridiculed the attempt,
observing that " they might as well attempt to make a body of
flesh without bones."

This alludes plainly enough to the comparatively easy fusibility
of petung-tse, and the infusibility of kaolin by the porcelain
furnaces, and it would even indicate the probability that the
Chinese themselves had tried and abandoned the manufacture of
porcelain without kaolin.
130

ANCIENT CHINESE ^POTTERIES.

Fig. 19.

The ingredients of which the paste is formed heing thus sup-
plied to the potter, the process of the formation of the paste from
the bricks is also described by Entrecolles as practised in his
time.

The bricks of kaolin and petung-tse being again pulverised are
further purified by washing, and any sandy matter they may
contain removed. The two materials are then mixed in different
proportions according to the sort of porcelain intended to be
fabricated.

4. The laborious process of kneading the dough is represented as
being executed by buffaloes in fig. 19, copied like the others from
contemporary drawings.

This method of kneading is still used in China. M. Chavagnon,
who penetrated into the interior of that country, assured M.
Brongniart, the director of the Sevres manufactory, that he
witnessed the process.

The paste being prepared thus for the fabrication of the porce-
lain, the process of forming the articles at the potter's wheel as
practised at the same epoch in China, is represented in fig. 20.

The wheel is kept in rotation by a man, who holds the ends
of a flat strap, which he presses lightly against the edge of the
wheel when he impels it by drawing one end of the strap, and

K2 131

THE POTTER S ART.

Fig. 20.

yielding to its motion at the other end. After each impulse the
strap is loosened and restored to its first position on the edge in
order to repeat the impulse. The strap is prevented from slipping
over the surface of the edge of the wheel by pins or points pro-
jecting from its surface.

The potter places the paste to be formed into the desired article
on the head of the wheel, and shapes it with his hands and
fingers.

Another man is represented carrying away the finished articles
to the oven.

5. The ovens and the process of baking are represented in fig. 21.
A man in a shed on the left is employed in placing the articles to
be baked in cylindrical cases of baked earth, which correspond to
those which our potters call SAGGERS.

An empty oven is represented at A, where a man receives the
saggers filled with the articles to be baked, and arranges them in
the oven. When the oven is thus filled it is closed by brickwork.
A second oven thus filled, and bricked up, is represented at C.

The fire doors or feeding mouths of the furnaces, by which the
ovens are heated, appear at D, and the openings for the escape of
smoke and the products of the combustion are represented at
o, 6, and c.
132

ANCIENT CHINESE POTTEPJES

Fig. 21.

The Chinese ovens used at the present time do not differ much
in form or arrangement from those designed and described by
Entrecolles in the beginning of the last century. M. Chavagnon,
•who witnessed their performance at a recent period, says that the
construction of the flues is so well managed, that the distribution
of the heat is sensibly uniform, the ovens such as A, which are most
remote from the furnace, being as effectually heated, and the
articles in them as well baked, as those, such as c, which are
nearest to it.

6. The first attempts made in Europe to fabricate a hard earthen-
ware covered with a glaze, are ascribed to the Moors of the Spanish
Peninsula. After this, a manufacture upon a large scale, was
established in the Balearic Isles ; and the wares originally pro-
duced there, and subsequently reproduced in Italy, acquired the
name Majolica, being a corruption of Majorica or Majorca, the
principal island of the Balearic group.

7. The first of the improvers of this art after its importation into
the Italian peninsula, was Lucca della Robbia, a Florentine sculp-
tor, whose name has thus become inseparably associated with the
history of this ornamental industry. This celebrated artist, born
in 1388, died prematurely in his forty-second year. He left, never-
theless, an immense number of works, which have come down
to the present times, and are highly prized.

He was succeeded by his brothers and their descendants, all
of whom continued, for nearly a century and a half, to practise
the art on a large scale, so that it must be always difficult,

133

THE POTTER'S AET.

if indeed it be possible, to ascertain what are the genuine works
of the great artist, and to distinguish them from those of his
family, some of whom worked under and with him during his
lifetime.

The productions of this family of artistic potters are formed of
a paste, consisting of about 50 per cent, of silica, combined with
15£ per cent., of alumina and 22^ per cent, of lime, with small
proportions of carbonic acid, magnesia, and iron. The decorations
were figures in relief, variously coloured with yellow, produced
by lead and antimony, a dark opaque blue, the green produced
by copper, and a bad violet produced by manganese. The art
of producing colours by means of gold was not then known in
Europe.

8. In fig. 22 is represented an altar-screen by Lucca della Robbia.
This consists of four pieces and two pilasters. The ground is a
fine azure blue; the figures are white; the fruits, cup, &c., in
gold-yellow, and the garlands green. The thickness of the
earthen ware or faienfe, of which it is composed, is little more
than an inch and an half. This piece is preserved in the Cabinet
SATJVAGEOT.

9. The paste used at this epoch not having the whiteness of the
finer porcelain, the articles fabricated were covered with an
opaque glaze of some particular colours, by which the coarse and
ill-coloured ground of the porcelain was concealed. The process
by which these opaque glazes were produced was nearly the same
as that by which the transparent and colourless glazes of the
present day are produced. The baked article, which before it is
glazed is called biscuit, is submerged in a vessel containing the
verifiable matter, mixed with such a proportion of water as to give
it a creamy consistency. After immersion, a coating of this
liquid adheres to the surface. The water which holds the vitri-
fiable substance in suspension is partly imbibed by the material of
the vessel. The vessel, thus coated, is placed in an oven, and
again exposed to the action of heat of sufficient intensity to vitrify
the coating with which it is invested, so that, when withdrawn
from the oven, the coating is converted into a coloured and opaque
glass, and the vessel is glazed. Sometimes the article, before
being baked, was covered with a coat of earthy matter, not
vitrifiable but opaque, by which the coarse surface of the paste was
concealed, and this coat being hardened in the oven, a transparent
glaze was put over it.

10. The majolica ware of Italy was in its most flourishing state
from 1540 to 1560. It was during this interval that the finest
table-services were produced. The chief places of its fabrication
were Castel Durante and Florence; but its celebrity and the

134

LUCCA BELLA EOBBIA.

Pig. 22.

ALTAR SCREEN BV LCCCA DELLA ROBBIA. — 1400 A.D.

general taste for it increasing, all the principal Italian cities
produced it, and all the most renowned artists, including Eaphael
himself, supplied designs for it, which potters scarcely less
renowned, executed.

It has heen often stated that Raphael himself worked at this
art. Such, however, was not the fact. The Duke of Tuscany,
Ouidobaldo II., who extended to this art the most magnificent
patronage and encouragement, procured designs from Raphael and
his pupils, which he gave to the potters whom he had established
at Pesaro to execute ; and it happened that among the most
skilful of the decorators of these potteries there were two who

135

THE POTTER S ART.

bore the name of Raphael. Hence the productions were said to be
those of Raphael ; and, at a later period, those who were unac-
quainted with these circumstances concluded that they were the
immediate work of the celebrated painter.

11. It was at this time that the celebrity of such productions, and
the universal admiration which they excited, produced the custom,
continued to the present time, of offering them as royal presents
by sovereign to sovereign. The Duke Guidobaldo caused to be
executed at Pesaro magnificent services, which he presented to
sovereigns and other eminent personages. The splendid service is
especially mentioned which he presented to the Emperor Charles V.,
made by Taddeo Zucarro and Battista Franca, under the direction
of the brothers Flaminio and Orazzio Fontana.

Nothing was omitted which could enhance the interest and
increase the excellence of those productions of artistic industry.
To genius, talent, skill, and care, were united the researches of
erudition, and the counsels of taste, to impart to them the greatest
attainable perfection.

12. This high excellence was sustained so long as the art was
protected and fostered by royal patronage. The time was not yet
arrived when the patronage of the public was more advantageous
than that of the sovereign ; and after the decease of Guidobaldo
and Orazzio Fontana, the art being left to the unaided influence
of the public demand, it became necessary to meet that demand
by low-priced and, therefore, inferior articles. The taste accord-
ingly declined with the excellence which excited it, and the
Italian majolica gradually but speedily lost its reputation.

About 1772, Cardinal Stoppani attempted to revive it at TJrbino,
and some temporary effect was produced about 1775, but it was
only temporary. It is probable that the importation of Chinese
porcelain into Europe, which was simultaneous with the deca-
dence of majolica, may have had some influence in producing that
result.

13. The epoch of della Robbia in Italy was followed by that of
Bernard Palissy in France. This eminent potter was born at
La Chapelle-Biron, a small village of the Perigord, about 1510,
and died in 1589.

Although he was the author of many published works, and one
upon the art which he practised with so much success, he has left
no available information respecting his processes. His desire
seems to have been exclusively to leave to the world a record of
the unparalleled difficulties he encountered, the sacrifices he
made, the sufferings he endured, and the obstinate perseverance,
amounting, it must be admitted, to a sort of heroism, which he
•displayed in the attainment of his objects. In his experiments,
136

ITALIAN POTTERY — MAJOLICA.

which were continued for a long period of time, and pursued with
tin admirable patience, he expended all that he was worth, even
to the sale of his furniture and wardrobe.

Palissy had the weakness and ignorance so common with prac-
tical men, of inveighing against theory, yet in the only work
which he has left on the subject of his art, he has not only been
sparing, obscure, and mysterious in his practical details, but has
mixed them up with theories of his own which only prove how-
much painful toil, how many abortive experiments, and how great
an expenditure he would have been spared, had he condescended
to consult those who were qualified to inform him of the true
principles of physical and chemical sciences applicable to his
researches.

14. The character of this great improver of his art was strongly
marked, not only by patience, perseverance and sagacity, in the
pursuit of his purposes, but by eminently high moral firmness, and
unshaken rectitude. Ko example can be found of one to whom
the well-known lines of the Roman poet are more truly applicable :

" Justum ac tenacem propositi virum,
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
, Non vultus instantis tyrauni

Mente quatit solida." — HORACE.

*' The man, in conscious virtue bold,
Who dares his secret purpose hold,
Unshaken hears the crowd's tumultuous cries,
And th' impetuous tyrant's angry brow defies."

FRANCIS.

15. Palissy was a conscientious Protestant, and did not hesitate
publicly to avow and express his opinions even in his discourses
on subjects of his art. By this boldness and indiscretion, he was
in his ninetieth year dragged before the ecclesiastical authorities,
and refusing peremptorily to renounce his opinions, or to retract
his expressions, he was thrown into the Bastille. He was visited
there by the King, Henry III., who wished to liberate him, when
the following memorable colloquy took place between the monarch
and the manufacturer :

"My good man," said the king, "if you cannot conform
yourself on the matter of religion, I shall be compelled to leave
you in the hands of my enemies." — " Sire," replied the old man,
" I was already willing to surrender my life, and could any regret
have accompanied the action, it must assuredly have vanished
upon hearing the great King of France say ' I am compelled.'
This, sire, is a condition to which those who force you to act
contrary to your own good disposition can never reduce me;

THE POTTER'S ART.

because I am prepared for death, and because your whole people
have not the power to compel a simple potter to bend his knee
before images which he has made."

Palissy, to the eternal disgrace of the monarch and the priests,
was detained in the Bastille, where he died at little short of a
hundred.

16. The works of Palissy are characterised by a peculiar style and
qualities. While the forms are in general correct and pure, there
is no painting properly so called. The figures are given in coloured
relief, whether they be mere ornaments, representations of natural
objects, or historical, mythological, or allegorical subjects. The
enamel is hard and brilliant, but often disfigured by a multitude
of small inequalities ; a defect which is also observable in the pro-
ductions of the German potters of that day. The colours are
generally brilliant, but little varied. The white is yellowish, and
very inferior to that of della Robbia. The other tints are confined
to a pure yellow, an ochre yellow, a fine indigo blue, a greyish
blue, an emerald green, a yellowish green, the violet produced by
manganese, and a brownish violet. They included no fine white,
nor any tint of red.

The bottoms of the articles are generally marbled with tints of
blue, yellow, and brownish violet.

In fig. 23 is represented a porcelain flask (Bouteille de Chasse),
attributed to this potter, preserved in the Cabinet Sauvageot. It is
oval in form, the largest diameter being 10£ inches, and bears the
Montmorenci arms. Palissy was employed by the Due de Mont-
morenci to decorate the Chateau d' Ecouen.

The natural objects represented on the pieces of Palissy, are
remarkable for truth of form and colour, having been, with the
exception of certain leaves, moulded from nature. It would appear
from the selection of this class of decoration that Palissy was more
or less a naturalist. The shells with which he has ornamented many
of his pieces are all tertiary fossil shells from the Paris basin, and
probably also that of Grignon and its environs. The fishes are
those of the Seine, and the reptiles, a prevailing subject, those of
the banks of the same river.

Most of the pieces, and especially the dishes and plateaux, are
surcharged with objects in coloured relief, and evidently were
never designed for the table, but were used to furnish the great
buffets and sideboards called DRESSERS, which were placed in the
dining halls of that day.

The productions of this potter must have been extremely

numerous, for they are still found in great quantities in the

cabinets and collections, public and private, and with the vendors

of antiquities and curiosities of all countries. The varieties of

138

BERNARD DE PALISSY.

Fig. 23.

form and design, however, bore no proportion to the number of
articles produced, and we accordingly find a limited number of
forms and patterns, indefinitely repeated in the extant collections.

17. An oval plateau highly decorated in relief by this potter is
represented in fig. 24. This piece is well known to amateurs
under the name of the dish of the fair garden-girl, plat de la
Belle Jardiniere. The decorations, coloured yellow and green, are
in low relief. The bottom is scaled green and reddish yellow.
This piece is in the collection Sauvageot.

18. Between the middle of the seventeenth century and its close
commenced the manufacture of the fine earthenware, which,
without attaining the excellence of porcelain, constituted a great
improvement on the previous products of this industry. This was
owing partly to the discovery of a white plastic clay as a sub-
stitute for the reddish clay previously used in France, Germany,
and Italy, which rendered it possible to use a colourless trans-
parent glaze instead of the opaque coloured glaze, which had
been previously used. Besides this, there were numerous improve-
ments made in the details of the manufacture by the potters who
established themselves in Staffordshire, and gave celebrity to the
extensive district since known as the Potteries.

The establishment of this industry in Staffordshire originated
from the circumstance of strata of good plastic clay being found

139

THE POTTERS ART.

Fig. 24.

there in immediate juxta-position with, the coal necessary for its
conversion into the fabricated article.

The chief town of the district, Burslem, is supposed to derive
its name from two Saxon words, BuRtf or BYUTT, a stream or a
farm, and LCEM, clay. If this be the origin of the name, it would
follow that the fabrication of earthenware in that district must
have prevailed since a very remote epoch.

19. About 1680, Messrs. Palmer and Bagnall, potters at Burslem,
discovered accidentally the property of marine salt, by which it
supplied a glaze. In some culinary process, salt being thrown
into the fire its vapour came in contact with the biscuit of an
unglazed article, and was observed to have the effect of giving it a
glaze. The expedient was tried in the manufacture, and suc-
ceeded. The salt, when vaporised, coming in contact with the
unglazed ware, was decomposed by the silica which formed so
large an ingredient of the paste, and the soda deposited combining
with the silica produced the glaze.

It was about this time that the brothers Elers of Nuremberg
immigrated to England, and erected a small factory in Stafford-
shire. There were then no more than twenty-two ovens at
Burslem.

20. The Messrs. Elers had not long been there beibre they dis-
covered in the neighbourhood a bed of clay of very superior
quality, and, erecting upon the spot itself a factory, resorted to

140

STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES.

extraordinary and curious measures to keep in profound secrecy
their materials and their processes. With this view they not only
excluded most rigorously from their works all visitors whatever,
but selected for their operatives the most stupid and ignorant
persons they could find, and so divided the labour that no one
individual possessed more knowledge than that of the very process
at which he was employed. These precautions were, however, of
little avail. The stimulus of profit and the spirit of enterprise
are not to be repressed by such shallow expedients. A workman
named Twyford imposed upon them by affecting indifference to
the art, and managed to get admitted to their employment. He
soon ascertained some of their secrets, but it remained for another
more astute and persevering person to discover all the details of
their processes. An individual named Astbury, appreciating the
importance of the manufacture, and foreseeing the profits likely to
arise from it, decided on adopting a course and persevering in it,
which, as he imagined, and as proved by the event, would lead to
a complete discovery. He affected the manners of an idiot,
deceived them, and got into their employment, and was adroit
enough to sustain the deception for several years, until he became
complete master of their secrets. After this, the Messrs. Elers
left Staffordshire in apparent disgust, and settled in London,
where, at a later period, they were probably instrumental in
establishing the well-known porcelain works at Chelsea.

21 . One of the ingredients of fine pottery is silica, or the earth of
flints. The circumstance which led to the application of this
substance to the art is thus related : — Mr. Astbury, the son and
successor of him who gained the knowledge of the Elers's secret by
feigning idiocy, being on his road to London, and making the
journey on horseback, was stopped at Dunstable in consequence of
his horse being attacked with a malady of the eyes. The inn-
keeper at whose house he put up advised him to apply a poultice
of calcined fiints. Astbuiy observed that the flints, which before
calcination were black, and semi-transparent, were by this process
of calcination converted into a white opaque substance. It
occurred to him that he might by like means bleach the clay of
which the pottery was made, and which was reddish in its colour,
by mixing with it more or less of the matter thus whitened in the
fire. He accordingly realised this idea with complete success,
and silica or the earth of flints became thenceforward a necessary
ingredient of the paste.

22. Among the improvers and inventors of this" epoch the most
memorable was Josiah Wedgwood, whose name has since become
so inseparably connected with this branch of the national
indnstry.

141

THE POTTIES ART.

This celebrated potter, born at Burslem in 1730, was the son of
Thomas "Wedgwood, who followed the same business. The edu-
cation of Josiah must necessarily have been limited to reading and
writing, for at the early age of eleven years he worked at the
wheel in his father's pottery.

After being united in partnership for short intervals with
Messrs. Harrison and Whieldon, he commenced working on his
own account in a little thatched building, in 1760. He soon
extended his works, erecting another small manufactory called the
"Bell Works," from the fact, then unusual, that the workmen
were assembled and dismissed by a bell. It was here that he
commenced the fabrication of the cream-coloured ware, with a
plombiferous glaze, which afterwards became so celebrated, and
which being approved and patronised by Queen Charlotte, consort
of George III., was called Queens ware, and procured for
Wedgwood the appointment of potter to the Queen.

Wedgwood was esteemed as much for his public spirit and
private virtues as for Ms industrial enterprise and skill. It was to
him was chiefly due the construction of the canal connecting
the Trent with the Mersey, commenced in 1760, and completed
in 1777.

His fortune being increased by inheritance as well as by his
commercial success, he purchased the estate called Ridge House,
where he established, in 1770, his manufactory of black ware.

It was here also that he erected the noble mansion which
became his family residence, and the surrounding village called
ETRTTRIA, where he established his principal works, having
removed from Burslem in 1771, and where he accumulated that
princely fortune, which he devoted to so many noble and cha-
ritable uses. The name conferred on this establishment, and the
industrial village created around it, was taken from that of one
of the ancient Italian states, which had attained a high celebrity
for the tasteful forms of its potteries.

He died at Etruria, in 1795, at the age of 64.

The effects of the genius and perseverance of this prince of
manufacturers were not limited to the improvement of the mere
processes of fabrication. His efforts were directed with not less
success and effect to the improvement of forms and decoration.
He resolutely rejected the uncouth and distorted shapes Avhich
had till then prevailed, and replaced them by forms at once pure,
simple and elegant. He availed himself of the collection of
ancient vases, which Hamilton had brought from Italy, and took
his models from them. He substituted for the vulgar style of
ornament which had been till then exclusively adopted, decora-
tions characterised by a severe taste, and, like the earlier potters
142

JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.

of Tuscany, he called to his aid the greatest living artists, procur-
ing designs from the celebrated Flaxman, according to which he
fabricated his improved wares. This system has been continued
by his son and successor.

* Wedgwood was as remarkable for enlightened liberality in his
private character as for well-directed enterprise as a manufacturer.
ATI example of his munificence was lately mentioned in one of the
leading journals, which we cannot pass without mention here.
The family attracted around them men of genius in literature
and art, among whom were Sir James Mackintosh, his brother-in-
law, Mr. Stuart, then editor of the Morning Post, Coleridge,
Southey, and others. In the beginning of 1798, Coleridge
received an invitation to accept the functions of minister to the
Unitarian congregation at Shrewsbury. Thomas Wedgwood hearing
of this wrote to him to dissuade him from taking such a step,
considering it to be adverse to the prosecution of literary works,
in which he was likely to found a great reputation, and to confer
a great benefit on society ; and that no immediate pecuniary exi-
gency should force him to accept the proposition he enclosed a
cheque for an hundred pounds. Coleridge, however, considering
that the Shrewsbury appointment opened to him for the first time
in his life the prospect of a certain income and permanent esta-
blishment, decided to accept it, and returned the cheque. He
accordingly went to Shrewsbury, preached his probation sermon
with general satisfaction to his flock, the afterwards celebrated
William Hazlitt being one of his auditors. The Wedgwoods,
however, sensible that the poet was misplaced, and would be lost
to the world, again wrote to him, expressing that opinion, and
proposed that he should at once relinquish his clerical charge, to
which he was unsuited, and with princely munificence offered to
place him at ease for the future by settling on him a life annuity
of an hundred and fifty pounds. The offer was promptly and
gratefully accepted.*

Before the commencement of Wedgwood's labours the English
potteries produced wares flimsy in their materials, grotesque in
their forms, and utterly destitute of all correct taste in their
ornamentation, being miserable copies of the Chinese procelain.
Owing to the influence of the enterprise and genius of this eminent
man, the style and character of the ceramic manufacture of the
country was thoroughly reformed, so that not only have the pro-
ductions of Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, London,
and other places where this industry has been established, super-
seded foreign goods in the home market, but they have spread over

* Edinburgh Bedew, April 1848, p. 379.

143

THE POTTER'S A1JT.

the whole civilised world. M. Faujas de St. Fond, a foreign writer
on this subject, says : —

" The excellent workmanship of English porcelain, its solidity,
the advantage which it possesses of sustaining the action of fire,
its fine glaze, impenetrable to acids, the beauty and convenience
of its form, and the cheapness of its price, have given rise to a
commerce so active and universal, that in travelling from Paris to
St. Petersburg!!, from Amsterdam to the furthest part of Sweden,
or from Dunkirk to the extremity of the south of France, one is
served at every inn upon English ware. Spain, Portugal, and
Italy are supplied with it, and vessels are loaded with it for botii
the Indies and the continent of America.''

144

Fig. 28.— TURNER OR THROWER'S SHOP IN PORCELAIN WORKS.

THE POTTER'S ART.

CHAPTER III.

1. Improvements effected by Wedgwood. — 2. General commercial advan-
tages attending the manufacture. — 3. History of Chinese porcelain.
— 4. Its first importation into Europe. — 5. Great plasticity of the
material. — 6. Perfection of its forms. — 7. Pagoda of Nankin. —
8. Forms of vases. — 9. Figure called "pou-sa." — 10. Discovery of
the material of porcelain in Europe. — 11. Origin and history of
Bbttger. — 12. His labours in Saxony. — 13. Anecdotes of his im-
prisonment.— 14. Is established at Dresden. — 15. First results of
his labours. — 16. White earth of Schnorr. — 17. Discovery of Saxon
kaolin. — 18. Establishment of the royal manufactory at Meissen. —
19. Curious precautions to ensure secresy. — 20. Anecdote of
Brongniart.— 21. Death of Bottger. — 22. Analysis of the Dresden
paste. — 23. Style of the Dresden porcelain. — 24. Grotesque figures.
25. Secrets transpire.— 26. Ringler at Hochst.— 27. Paul Becker.—
28. Establishment of the Royal Bavarian manufactory. — 29. In other
German states. — 30. Invention of the Sevres pate tendre. — 31. Its
defects.

1. AMONG the principal improvements for which the art is in-
debted to the genius of Wedgwood, may be mentioned — besides
LAEDNER'S MUSEUM OP SCIEHCK. L 145

No. 23.

THE POTTERS AllT.

the queen's ware — a terra cotta resembling porphyry, granite,
Egyptian pebble, and other ornamental stones ; a black unglazed
ware called basaltes, hard enough to emit sparks when struck with
steel, and capable of receiving a high polish, of resisting acids,
and of sustaining a high temperature ; a white unglazed ware
having like properties ; a bamboo or cane-coloured ware of the
same kind; a biscuit adapted to chemical purposes by reason
of its hardness, its resistance to acids, its impenetrability by
liquids ; its incorrosiveness, and its refractory quality when
exposed to high temperatures ; and, in fine, for a production
denominated JASPEE, consisting of a white porcelainous biscuit of
extreme beauty, having besides the properties of the basaltes
above-mentioned, the quality of receiving from the application of
metallic oxides colours which penetrate its entire thickness like
those imparted to glass or enamel in fusion. This peculiar pro-
perty, possessed by no other porcelain or earthenware body
ancient or modern, renders it applicable to the production of
cameos and all subjects which require to be shown in relief upon
a ground of another and darker colour, the figures in relief formed
with this biscuit being of the purest white.

2. We cannot give a more clear idea of the benefits conferred by
this manufacture on our national industry than may be obtained
from the following evidence, given by Wedgwood before a
Parliamentary committee : —

" Though the manufacturing part alone in the Potteries, and
their immediate vicinity, gives bread to 15 or 20,000 people,
yet this is but a small object when compared with the many others
which depend on it; namely, 1st, The immense quantity of inland
carriage it creates throughout the kingdom, both for its raw
materials and finished goods. 2nd, The great number of people
employed in the extensive collieries for its use. 3rd, The still
greater number employed in raising and preparing its raw
materials in several distant parts of England, from near the Land's
End, in Cornwall — one way along different parts of the coast, to
Falmouth, Teignmouth, Exeter, Pool, Gravesend, and the Norfolk
coast ; the other way to Biddeford, Wales, and the Irish coast.
4th, The coasting vessels, which, after having been employed at
the proper season in the Newfoundland fishery, carry these
materials coastwise to Liverpool and Hull, to the amount of more
than 20,000 tons yearly ; and at times when, without this employ-
ment, they would be laid up idle in harbour. 5th, The further
conveyance of these materials from those ports, by river and canal
navigation, to the Potteries, situated in one of the most inland
parts of this kingdom; and, 6th, The re-conveyance of the finished
goods to the different parts of this island, where they are shipped
146

IMPORTANCE OF THE MANUFACTURE.

for every foreign market that is open to the earthenwares of
England."

Mr. Wedgwood very justly observed further, that this manu-
facture is attended with some circumstances of advantage which
are almost peculiar to itself ; viz. that the value of the finished
goods consists almost wholly in the labour bestowed upon them ;
that every ton of raw materials produces several tons of merchan-
dise for shipping, the freight being paid, not upon the weight, but
according to the bulk ; that scarcely a vessel leaves any of our
ports whose lading is not in part made up of these cheap, bulky,
and, for these reasons, valuable articles, to this maritime country;
and that fully five parts in six of the aggregate manufactures of
the Potteries are exported to foreign markets.

3. While the potters of Europe were engaged with more or less
success in the fabrication of an earthenware, which, whatever may
have been its merits, was formed of a paste coarse and opaque ;
the fine porcelain, which attracted so much and so well merited
admiration, was for a long period of time obtained exclusively
from the East.

Without insisting on the claims of the Chinese to the produc-
tion of this beautiful article at the epochs of remote antiquity,
which have been already referred to, there is sufficiently con-
clusive evidence that they possessed and practised the art hundreds
of years before it was discovered in Europe or elsewhere. Thus
it is certain that fine porcelain was made in China 163 B.C., and
that its fabrication existed still in 442, A.D.

The first porcelain oven, however, of which there are distinct
and detailed historic records in China was called TAOU-YAOTT, and
was situate at Chang-Nan in the province of KEAXG-SI. Tributes
of porcelain were sent from this factory to the court of Woo-tih
in the year 630 A.D.*

The celebrated works of King-Te-Tching, already mentioned,
were not established until 1000 A.D.

In the Ceramic Museum of Dresden are pieces of porcelain
which bear dates from 1403 to 1425, from 1465 to 1488, and 1573
to 1620, which are, therefore, spread over two centuries. The
stationary character of the Chinese is remarkably indicated by
the fact that the earliest of these specimens does not differ in the
slightest degree from the latest, either in its mode of fabrication, the
nature of its material, nor even in its colours or style of decoration.

4. It was not until 1518 that the Chinese porcelain was brought
to Europe by the Portuguese, and two centuries elapsed before any
successful attempt was made to fabricate it. In England this fine

* Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, part iii., p. 326, word "porcelain."

L2 147

THE POTTERS ART.

pottery was called CHINA, from the place of its production, but
on the Continent it was distinguished from the coarser sorts of
pottery by the name porcelain; the origin of which is not
certain, but which is supposed to be derived from the Portuguese
word POBCELLANA (a drinking cup).

Although the art of fabricating porcelain was thus late in
reaching Europe, it extended from China to other adjacent parts
of Asia, and especially to Japan, and even to Persia, at a much
earlier period.

5. The paste of which the oriental porcelain is composed is
generally deficient in pure whiteness, having rather a grayish,
hue, while the glaze which covers it is greenish. It is hard,
brittle, and stands the fire only with many precautions. It is
not as translucent as the fine porcelain manufactured in France
and Germany.

That in its unbaked state it possesses the quality of plasticity
in an extraordinary degree is rendered manifest by various
circumstances. The process of the fabrication is one to which
no material but the most plastic could lend itself. It is also
proved by the enormous magnitude of the vases which are fabri-
cated in a single piece, free from those defects which would be
inevitable with a material not possessing that quality in the
highest degree.

Without being as fusible as the paste of which the tender por-
celain is formed, it is less infusible than that of the hard
European porcelain. A cup of Chinese porcelain was softened and
distorted in one of the Sevres ovens.

6. The forms given to the Chinese porcelain are remarkable for
their perfection, even in the case of articles presenting the greatest
difficulties and delicacies. The pieces, although large, are frequently
not thicker than an egg shell. Open cylindrical vases eight or
nine inches in height are proportionally delicate ; plates decorated
with ornaments in relief, are remarkable for their lightness and
evenness of surface ; and as to magnitude, the vases made in a
single piece are sometimes fifty-four inches high and twenty-two
inches diameter. A vase of these dimensions is in the possession of
M. Cambaceres, remarkable for the magnificence of its ornamenta-
tion in relief, and its dragon-formed handles.

7. Among the pieces of Chinese porcelain most memorable for
magnitude, is the celebrated pagoda of Nankin in the province of
Kiang-Ming, the height of which is 213 feet. This structure
consists of nine stages, the walls of each of which are covered
with plates of coarse porcelain. Two models of this, on a small
scale, may be seen in the Imperial (Royal) Library at Paris.

8. One of the most characteristic forms of the Chinese vases is
143

CHINESE VASES.

that of the two round vases or bottles connected by a contracted
neck, of which figs. 25 and 26 are examples. The most usual
ornaments on these vases are lizards or other reptiles with a

Fig. 25. Fig. 26.

curved and bifurcated tail, which are represented crawling from
one of the vases to the other in the contracted neck, by which they
are connected.

This form of vase has been seen no where on the old continent

Fig. 27.

except in China and in Egypt. M. Brongniart, however, notices

149

THE POTTERS ART.

a fact which, has some interest for geographers and antiquaries.
It is that yases of the same form and similar decoration have been
found among the remains of ancient pottery in Peru and Chili
in South America, which must have existed ages before the time
of Columbus. One of these jars, found in Peru, is represented in
fig. 27. It will be observed as a coincidence deserving of notice,
that while in the Chinese vases lizards are represented creeping
from one part of the vase to the other, a species of small ape is
represented in a like position and action on the Peruvian vase,
and that in both cases the tails are bifurcated.

9. The figures so often seen on Chinese porcelain, with a large
paunch, which amateurs call POTJ-SA, and which are often in
coloured glaze, represent the Chinese god of porcelain, whom a
legend records as being a martyr to the art. Being engaged in
the process of baking, he found that the action of the furnace was
irregular, and such as must destroy the articles in the oven. To
prevent this, according to the Chinese traditions, he sacrificed
himself by throwing himself bodily into the furnace, and attained
his object.

10. It was not until the beginning of the last century that the
art of fabricating the true porcelain made its way to Europe. The
circumstances attending its discovery are highly interesting and
curious.

During the seventeenth century, the oriental porcelain which
had been brought to Europe by the Portuguese, and which was
distinguished from the wares fabricated there by the name of
porcelain, excited the unbounded admiration of all classes. No
efforts were left untried to discover its materials and the means of
producing it. European agents in the East, and more particularly
Father Entrecolles already mentioned, contrived, in spite of the
jealous vigilance of the Chinese, to obtain specimens of the
materials of which the precious ware was fabricated. But these
materials were in the state in which they were prepared for the
potter, and not in the raw form in which they were first taken from
the quarries. Nevertheless, they were assiduously examined and
analysed by the most eminent chemists and physicists of the day.

These researches, however, led to no practical result ; and, as so
often happens in the progress of discovery, as well in the arts as
in the sciences, chance accomplished what sagacity and industry
failed to attain. Even chance, however, can accomplish nothing,
unless it presents its results where talent and genius are present
to recognise them and turn them to account. Happily, in the
present case, the talent and genius were not wanting. Saxony
was destined to have the honour of the first accomplishment of this
great advance in the ornamental arts.
150

ANECDOTES OF BOTTGER.

11. John Frederick Bottger (or Bottcher) was born at Schlaiz,
iu Voigtland, on the 4th of February, 1682. He was brought up at
Magdeburg, where his father had a place in the Mint. The father
was given to alchemy, and pretended to the discovery of the
philosopher's stone, the secret of which he was reputed to have
imparted to his son. In the superstitious spirit of the age, Bottger
believed himself gifted with the power of divining the future, in
consequence of being a "Sabbath child," having chanced to come
into the world on a Sunday.

He was apprenticed to an apothecary named Zorn, at Berlin,
but the fascinations of alchemy did not long permit him to give
his attention to the preparation of medicines ; and he deserted his
master and his business. He was soon, however, obliged to
return, and was received and forgiven, on the condition of
abandoning his favourite study of alchemy.

Soon after this, being informed that the fame of his researches
and the rumours of his prospects of successful results, which gave
him among his fellow citizens the name of the " Goldmaker," had
reached the ears of Frederick I. of Prussia, and fearing, or
affecting to fear, that he would be seized by royal order for
the purpose of extorting his secret from him, he again fled, and
took refuge in Saxony, where his arrest was procured by the
Prussian authorities. The Elector of Saxony, however, having
resolved not to surrender so precious a personage, had him carried
away from Wittemberg, and secretly confined, but well cared for
and treated.

He was supplied with all the means necessary to carry on his
chemical researches, but was kept under constant surveillance, and
was in reality a prisoner.

12. After some time the Elector, finding that the labours and
researches of Bottger were without any practical results, and
suspecting all the prospects of success so much vaunted to be mere
illusions, but finding nevertheless that his protege and prisoner
was endowed with considerable natural genius, combined with
much acquaintance with chemical science, such as it was at that
time, resolved on endeavouring to turn Bottger to better account ;
and, with this view, put him in communication with EHREXFBIED
WALTHER DE TscmnxHArsEX, who was then occupied in experi-
mental researches directed to the improvement of the fabrication of
earthenware, and more especially to the discovery of means for the
production of the oriental porcelain.

Bottger himself, having probably some misgivings as to his
eventual success in the fabrication of gold, was the more ready
to give ear to the counsels and suggestions of Tschirnhausen, and
was soon brought to cooperate with that person, and to deliver

151

THE POTTER'S ART.

himself with all his characteristic ardour to a series of experiments
on the fabrication of an improved pottery.

13. In order to remove them more effectually from popular inter-
ference and observation, the Elector had established Bottger and
Tschirnhausen in the chateau of Albrechtsburg at Meissen. They
were there abundantly supplied with artisans to work under them,
and with all that was necessary for a porcelain laboratory and
workshop. Bottger was liberally afforded all that could render
life agreeable, except liberty. A carriage was provided for him,
and he was allowed to visit Dresden and the neighbourhood at his
pleasure, but an officer always accompanied him, never for a
moment losing sight of him, lest he should escape, carrying with
him his inestimable secrets.

The first result of their labours, which were still prosecuted
under the strict surveillance of government, was merely the pro-
duction of articles of earthenware, composed of a red and compact
paste, differing, however, in nothing which was essential from the
pottery of Spain, Italy, and France.

In 1706, the King of Sweden, Charles XII., entering Saxony,
the King of Poland, Elector of Saxony, fearing that Bottger
should be seized and carried away with his secrets, had him
conducted with Tschirnhausen and three principal artisans,
Hitter, Romanns, and Beichling, to the fortress of Konigstein,
where they were strictly imprisoned, but supplied with a
laboratory, where they were allowed to prosecute ther labours
under rigid surveillance. Bottger is related to have lost none of
his gaiety and animal spirits here. He amused his leisure hours
and those of his companions in captivity in various ways, and
among others, by the composition and recitation of verses.

Notwithstanding all the precautions which were observed for
their safe keeping, Ritter and the others managed to form a plan
of escape.

14. In 1707, after remaining a year at Konigstein, Bottger and
Tschirnhausen were reconducted to Dresden, and established in a
new laboratory which had been prepared for them on the Jungfer-
bastei. Here they continued to prosecute their labours, all their
researches being directed still to the discovery of the means of
producing a pottery such as that which came from China. Their
labours were incessant, and their spirit indefatigable ; and it is
related as an example of the untiring spirit of Bottger, that when
it was considered necessary to watch the oven day and night for
three or four successive days, he never left them himself, and kept
his assistants awake by his inexhaustible fund of anecdote, and the
gay and frequent sallies of his conversation.

It was said, that at this time some of the firing processes which
152

BOTTGER AND TSCHIBNHAUSEX.

required a more intense heat than could he obtained hy the
furnaces then in use, were effected by means of the solar rays
collected in the focus of a large burning mirror, constructed by
Tschirnhausen.

Tschirnhausen die .1 the next year, 1708. This event, however,
did not interrupt the course of experiments. Large ovens were
erected, and batches of earthenware were exposed in them to the
effect of the furnaces, often for five consecutive days and nights,
producing successful results so far as the nature of the clays used
permitted. The king, wishing to witness one of these experi-
ments, they drew from the oven, in his presence, a tea-pot, still
red-hot, which, being plunged in water, sustained the sudden
change of temperature without injury.

15. The pottery thus produced was still, however, only a good
stone- ware, with a red body, to which the brilliancy of porcelain
was attempted to be imparted, either by polishing it on the wheel
of a lapidary, or by covering it with an opaque-coloured glaze,
which was vitrified at a comparatively low temperature.

At length, however, chance brought to Bottger a knowledge of
the constituents of the true oriental porcelain, so long and so
vainly sought for.

16. About this time, John Schnorr, one of the most wealthy
and extensive iron-masters of Erzgebirge, happened to pass on
horseback near ATJE, where he observed the action of his horse to
be impeded by reason of his feet sticking in a sort of white, soft,
and tenacious earth, which lay upon the road, and which evidently
formed the superficial stratum of the ground at that place. At
that time, the use of hair-powder was universal, and that article
formed consequently an object of commerce of capital importance.
Engaged largely himself in commercial speculations, and endowed
with an enterprising genius and quick sagacity, Schnorr conceived
the idea of submitting this white clay to experiment, for the
purpose of purifying it, and reducing it to a fine powder, which
might find a profitable market as hair-powder, thus displacing the
powder produced from wheaten flour.

Schnorr realised this project with complete success, and after a
series of experiments made at Carlsfeld, established a manufactory
of it, and soon found an extensive market and large demand for
the article at Dresden, Leipsic, Zittau, and, in short, in all the
German towns, where the new powder was known under the name
of SCHXOER'S WHITE EAETH.

17. Bottger, like all others of that day, wearing powder, he
happened, while Klunker, his valet, was occupied in dressing his
hair, to take in his hand a packet of the powder which he was
using, and being struck with its extraordinary weight, greatly

153

THE POTTER'S ART.

exceeding that of powder made from flour, lie asked Klunker
where he bought it, and what it was called. Being informed that
it was " Schnorr's White Earth," the idea instantly occurred to
him that a clay so beautifully white, and admitting of pulveri-
sation so infinitely fine, would serve as a material for fabricating
an improved pottery ; he instantly ordered a quantity of it to be
procured sufficient for an experiment, which was no sooner tried
than its precious qualities became conspicuously apparent. It
was, in fact, the true kaolin, the very material of which the so
highly-prized oriental porcelain was formed, and for which so many
and such fruitless searches had been made in all parts of Europe.

18. The king now proceeded to establish the Royal Manufactory
of Porcelain, which has since attained such universal celebrity.
The Chateau of Albrechtsburg, at Meissen, was assigned to it, and
Bottger was appointed its director.

The most rigid precautions were adopted to prevent the dis-
covery, or its consequences, passing out of the country. The
exportation of the " white earth" was interdicted under the most
severe penalties, and it was transported from Aue to the manu-
factory at Meissen in sealed barrels, under military escort, and in
the care of sworn keepers.

The precautions to ensure the secresy of the processes exceeded
all belief. The precept solemnly inculcated into all who were
employed in the manufactory, from the director to the lowest
labourer, was " SECRESY TILL DEATH !" An oath to this effect
was solemnly administered monthly to all the foremen and prin-
cipal artisans, and was painted in conspicuous characters on the
doors of all the workshops.

Whoever should be detected in disclosing any of the secrets of
the processes was menaced by the royal ordinances with imprison-
ment for life in the fortress of Konigstein.

19. In a word, the royal manufactory of Meissen was placed
under the rigorous conditions of a fortress, the drawbridge never
being lowered except at night. No one was admitted within its
walls except those employed in the works ; and even when the
king brought foreigners of distinction to view the works, the
processes were carefully concealed from them.

20. So late as the year 1812, M. Brongniart, then director of the
Royal Manufactory of Sdvres, was sent by the Emperor Napoleon
to inspect the porcelain works of Germany, and among others he
visited those of Meissen. Even then the same rigorous system of
secresy and exclusion was maintained. The King of Saxony, at
the personal request of Napoleon, permitted M. Brongniart to see
the works; but in order to do so, he was obliged to absolve
M. Kuhn, the director, from his oath of exclusion. He did so,

154

DISCOVERY OF SAXON KAOLIN.

as far as related to M. Brongniart individually, but he refused
to include in the admission the associate who accompanied him.

The fine hard porcelain was now manufactured at Meissen, the
colours, forms, painting and gilding of the oriental porcelain being
so perfectly re-produced, that on examining the specimens of this
early date preserved in the Dresden collection, M. Brongniart
affirmed that he was only able to ascertain that they were not
genuine Chinese porcelain by the mark of the Meissen manufac-
tory impressed on them.

21. Bottger was unable to bear his elevation. Intoxicated with
success, and supplied with pecuniary resources beyond his habits,
he fell into a course of dissipation, and died in 1719, at the early
age of thirty-five.

Such was the origin of the manufactory of porcelain at Dresden,
which has since obtained a world- wide celebrity, and the source
from which Europe for more than a hundred years obtained the
most admired productions of the ceramic art.

22. The kaolin of Aue, discovered by the accidental circum-
stances above stated, continued, and still continues, to be used
as one of the materials of the Saxon porcelain. Two sorts of
paste are at present used in this manufacture. What is called
the service paste, or that used for porcelain in general, is thus
composed :

Kaolin of Aue 18

Kaolin of Sosa 18

Kaolin of Seidlitz .... 36

Feldspar, &c. 8

100

For the statuary porcelain the feldspar of Carlsbad and quartz
are mixed with the kaolin of Aue.

The manufacture of fine porcelain being thus established in
Saxony, it soon spread to other parts of Europe, partly by the
treachery and desertion of the parties engaged in the Meissen
manufactory, and partly by the invention of other materials for
the paste ; and, in fine, by the discovery of strata of kaolin in
other localities.

23. The style of the Dresden porcelain is familiar to all amateurs,
and, whatever difference of opinion may prevail as to its taste,
there can be none as to the admirable excellence of its execution.
All who have visited the collection at Dresden, will be familiar
with the series of animals, represented on a scale approaching to
the natural size, including bears, rhinoceroses, vultures, peacocks,
£c., made for the grand staircase which conducts to the electoral
library. These were fabricated as early as 1730. At a later

155

THE POTTER'S AET.

period, when the manufacture had undergone improvements, large
ornamental pieces of porcelain were made, such as the slabs of
consoles and tables, some of which measure from 45 to 50 inches
by 25, and are richly decorated with flowers.

24, Among the varieties of Dresden porcelain the grotesque
figures and groups have always been much admired for their
execution, if not for their style. The costumes are especially
admirable, and the representation of fine work, such as lace,
truly wonderful. One of the grotesque pieces which has attained
most celebrity, and is familiar to all amateurs, is the famous
tailor of the Count de Bruhl, a figure which is remarkable for the
difficulty of its execution owing to the numerous accessories
which it includes. The figure of the tailor is represented riding
on a goat surrounded with all the implements and appendages of
his trade, and is about 20 inches in height. This celebrated
group was composed by Kundler in 1760, and is usually sold for
about 121

The Dresden manufacture has always been remarkable for its
representation of flowers ; and a beautiful specimen of this work
was seen in the Great Exhibition in 1851, consisting of a camellia
iaponica with leaves and white flowers in porcelain, in a gilt pot, on
a stand of white and gold porcelain. This article is priced at 90Z.

25. The efforts made to conceal the important discovery thus
made, and to monopolise the manufacture of fine porcelain at
Dresden, were ineffectual. The force of interest proved more
powerful than the respect for oaths, and the art, as improved in
Saxony, soon spread to other parts of Germany.

One of the foremen of Meissen, named Stobzel, had deserted
from that establishment about the year 1718, and escaped to
Vienna, where, aided by a Belgian named Pasquier, and favoured
by a privilege, or a sort of monopoly, for twenty-five years,
granted to him by the Emperor Charles VI., he established, in
1720, a small porcelain manufactory. Not having, however, suffi-
cient capital to carry it on, it declined, and was finally purchased
by the Empress Maria Theresa in 1744, and erected into a royal
manufactory. During nearly twenty years it required consi-
derable subsidies for its support, but at length, by good manage-
ment, it became profitable in 1760, and in 1780 yielded an annual
profit of about 4000?. The number of operatives who were lately
employed in this factory was about 400. The kaolin or porcelain
clay used in this factory, until 1812, was obtained from the neigh-
bourhood of Passau, on the confines of Bavaria, and from Prinzdorf,
in Hungary. Lately, however, it has been supplied by clay
obtained from the neighbourhood of Brim, in Moravia, and
Unghbar, in Hungary.
156

DRESDEN PORCELAIN.

As deserters from Meissen were instrumental in establishing
the manufactory of porcelain at Vienna, deserters from Vienna
soon spread the knowledge of the art to a greater or less extent in
other parts of Germany.

26, Eingler, one of those who had originally deserted from
Meissen, again breaking his engagements, and disregarding his
oaths, left Vienna, taking with him plans of the ovens, and asso-
ciating himself with M. Gelz, a manufacturer of earthenware at
Hochst, near Francfort-on-the-Maine, he enabled that potter,
with the aid of Lowenfink and Bengraf, two others, to establish
the manufacture of the fine porcelain.

The German princes, captivated by the productions of this art,
and ambitious, each in his own state, to establish a royal manu-
factory, in imitation of those of Dresden and Vienna, left no
means of corruption and seduction untried to attract the potters,
or even the subordinate workmen, wlio were engaged in the manu-
factories already established. Thus, the Duke of Brunswick endea-
voured, by highly advantageous offers, to tempt the potter Bengraf
to desert his employer, and succeeded, though not without much
delay and many difficulties, for Bengraf was arrested by order of
the Elector of Mentz, and was kept without food, until he was
compelled to leave with his employer the full details of his
processes, and to verify their exactitude. At length he was per-
mitted to depart, and, in fine, he founded, in 1750, the well-known
manufactory of Furstenberg, on the Weser. But as he died
before his processes were carried into practical effect, the Duke of
Brunswick failed in his object, and lost the expense he had incurred.
He resorted in vain to the aid of an eminent chemist of that
day, the Baron de Lang, to find means of realising the plans of
Bengraf.

Ringler having remained at Hochst, continued to- direct the
processes of that manufactory, taking care, however, to conceal his
processes, so that without his personal superintendence the works
could not proceed. Being addicted to drinking, his companions,
availing themselves of his infirmity, and knowing that he usually
carried on his person receipts for his processes, tempted him into an
excessive indulgence in wine, which ended in his falling into a
state of insensibility. Availing themselves of this, they rifled
him of his papers, and his receipts being copied and re-copied,
were carried about the German States, and sold for considerable
sums to wealthy persons, who considered themselves fortunate in
becoming the possessors of the processes of an art so much and so
universally admired.

27. Among these hawkers of Ringler's receipts or notes, one of
the most noted and active was a certain Paul Becker, who, after

157

THE POTTERS ART.

travelling through France and the Netherlands, at length settled
in Brunswick, where he received a pension from the Duke, on the
condition of ceasing from his peregrinations. Most of the notes
and receipts which were thus put in circulation, were either
garbled and fragmentary, or altogether spurious, so that little or
no practical advantage was derived by those who became their
possessors.

Ilingler quitting Hb'chst, went to Frankenthal, where, asso-
ciating himself with a merchant, named Hammung, he established
a porcelain factory, which afterwards became one of the best
known in Germany.

28. He went to Munich, where he established, under the pro-
tection of the King of Bavaria, the royal porcelain works at
Nymphenburg, •within a few miles of the city, in 1758.

This establishment still continues, and is now the Royal porce-
lain manufactory of Bavaria. The white biscuit is manufactured
at Nymphenburg, and its ornamentation effected in workshops at
Munich. The porcelain clay used in this manufactory is obtained
near Passau, already mentioned, the felspar from Raberstein, in
Bavaria, and the quartz from Abensburg, near Ratisbon. It was,
in like manner, by means of information brought by deserters and
runaways from factory to factory, that the fabrication of porcelain
came to be established successively in the royal manufactories of
Louisberg near Stuttgard, at Berlin, Copenhagen, Brunswick, and
St. Petersburgh.

After the peace of Hubertsburgh, Frederick II. of Prussia,
erected the royal manufactory of Berlin. While he was master
of Dresden, he sent a considerable quantity of the porcelain clay
of Meissen, and several of the operatives of this factory, to Berlin,
to aid in the establishment of the manufactory in that city.

29. Chance, which played so remarkable a part in the progress of
the ceramic art elsewhere, was also the origin of its establishment
in the Thuringen.

In 1758, an old woman brought to the laboratory of the cnemist
Macheleid, a powder, which she proposed to be used as sand for
drying writing. The grain and colour of this powder struck
Henry Macheleid, the son of the chemist, who had stiidied at
Jena, as bearing a resemblance to china clay. He submitted it
to analysis, and found that it was kaolin. In fine, he succeeded
in making porcelain with it, and founded in 1762 a manufactory
of that article at Sitzerode, which in 1767 was transferred to
Volkstadt, and became the origin of all the other manufactories
of that district of the German states.

30. While the art made this progress in Germany, the French
potters failing to discover either a true kaolin or any other clay

158

GERMAN MANUFACTORIES.

having the qualities necessary to render it a tolerable substitute
for the fine china clay, directed all their efforts to invent some
artificial composition which might serve the purpose and enable
them to compete with foreign potters.

The result was the invention of an artificial imitation of the
porcelain paste, which soon became the basis of a great manufactory
in France, and which continued for half a century to be known as
the pate tendre of the Royal manufactory of Sevres.

This material did not contain a particle of kaolin or felspar,
the essential constituents of all genuine porcelain. Its composition
was subject from time to time to slight variations ; for, for the best
porcelain, it consisteu ,t' the following constituents in an hundred
parts by weight : —

Fused nitre (mineral crystals) ... 22 '0

Grey sea-salt

Alum ......

Soda of Alicant ....

Gypsum of Montmartre (plaster of Paris)
Sand of Fontainbleau

7-2
3-6

3-6

3-6

60-0

100-0

These materials being well mixed, were fritted either in the
porcelain oven, or in an oven expressly appropriated to this process.
It was usual, however, to calcine the alum and the gypsum pre-
viously to disengaging their water of crystallisation.

The dough called the pate tendre, was formed by the mixture of
this frit with white chalk and calcareous marls from the gypseous
earth of Argenteuil, in the following proportions by weight : —

Frit 75

Chalk 17

Gypseous earth 8

100
The whiteness and consistency or hardness of this dough was

modified by varying the proportion of chalk.

All these materials were intimately kneaded together, bruised

with water in a mill, and in fine passed through silken sieves.
The glaze used for this factitious biscuit was composed as

follows : —

Litharge 38

Calcined sand of Fontainbleau . . . . 27

Calcined silex 11

Sub -carbonate of potash. . . . 15

Sub-carbonate of soda 9

100

31. This paste after all was so utterly wanting in plasticity and

159

THE POTTER'S ART.

consistency that it could not be worked on the potter's wheel, and
was even moulded not without much difficulty.

To give it sufficient tenacity and consistency to prevent it from
cracking or crumbling to pieces in the process of moulding, it was
mixed with about twelve per cent, of its own weight of a mixture
of black soap and parchment size, the soap at a later period being
replaced by a solution of tragacanth gum, to which are attributed
the saline efflorescences which were occasionally manifested on the
articles fabricated. In the process of turning the moulded pieces
a saline and silicious dust was produced, which was extremely
injurious to the potters, and caused asthmatic and pulmonary
complaints. This was one of the reasons why the fabrication of
tender porcelain was the more readily discontinued after the
discovery of kaolin.

Owing to the want of plasticity and coherence in this artificial
paste, great difficulties were encountered in the several stages of
its manufacture. The want of tenacity rendered it necessary,
when the articles were placed in the oven, to support all the pro-
jecting parts during the process of baking ; and, in order that the
forms of these parts might not be distorted, it was necessary that
their supports should be formed of the same paste as the articles
themselves, so that the whole mass, including the supports, might
contract together. The linear dimensions contracted in the baking
by one-seventh, and, consequently, the bulk or volume of the
article was diminished in the proportion of three to two.

160

Tig. 35. — MOULDER'S SHOP IN FORCZLAIX WORKS.

THE POTTER'S ART.

CHAPTER IT.

1. Meaning of the epithet "tender" as applied to porcelain. — 2. Qualities
and value of this porcelain. — 3. Art of making it not lost. — 4. Origin
of the Sevres manufactory. — 5. Efforts to discover kaolin — Paul
Hannong. — 6. Kaolin of Limoges discovered. — 7. Anecdote of
Madame Darnet. — 8. English porcelain at Bow, Derby, and Wor-
cester.— 9. Cornish china clay. — 10. Properties of true porcelain.
— 11. Stoneware. — 12. Cause of translucency. — 13. Hard and tender
porcelain distinguished.— 14. English tender porcelain.— 15. Mode
of preparing the clay. — 16. Statuary porcelain. — 17. Process of its
fabrication. — 18. Process of producing colours on porcelain. — 19.
Coloured figures on common ware ; press and bat printing. — 20. Dis-
tinctive marks of the manufactories — 21. Various recent applications
of the art.

1. THE epithet tender, applied to this porcelain, must not be under-
stood as implying the quality of softness. It is intended, on the
other hand, to express two qualities by which it is distinguished
LARDXER'S MUSEUM OF SCIEKCE. is. 161

No. 25.

THE POTTER'S ART.

from the hard porcelain : first, that the paste is fusible at a
certain temperature lower than that at which the hard porcelain is
baked ; and, secondly, that the glaze is so soft that it may be
scratched with a steel fork or knife.

This artificial imitation of porcelain enjoyed for a long time
great celebrity ; and after its manufacture was discontinued, it
was still more eagerly sought by amateurs, and its price was
enhanced by its comparative scarcity.

2. The very defects of this artificial porcelain conferred upon it
some advantages, in its decoration, over the real porcelain made
from the paste of kaolin and felspar. The softness of the glaze
caused painting laid over it to penetrate more or less into it, and
thus to assume the appearance of being incorporated with it. It
had the same effect as if it were placed under the glaze, retaining
nevertheless the most perfect brilliancy. This is an effect difficult
to be attained, owing to the facility with which the colouring
matter is affected by the saline constituents of the glaze. It has
not reappeared in the productions of the Sdvres factory since the
fabrication of the pate tendre was discontinued there. Since the
great Exhibition, however, some of the British manufacturers
have produced similar effects.

There are certain coloured grounds which are eminently
characteristic of the old Sevres porcelain, the proper porcelain
paste not being in the same degree susceptible of receiving them.
These are the beautiful light blue called TURQUOISE, from its
resemblance to the colour of the stone of that name, the GROS
BLEU, the GREEN obtained from copper, and the red distinguished
as the ROSE DUBARRY, from the preference shewn to it by the
notorious mistress of Louis XV.

Although this factitious ware contained no portion of either of
the essential constituents of true porcelain, and ought not, there-
fore, ever to have received the name, or to be regarded as anything
else than a spurious imitation of that admired production of Art ;
it must at the same time be admitted to be, in its superficial and
external qualities, a beautiful copy of a beautiful original, and to
require in its preparation and fabrication much more profound
resources of science and art than what is composed chiefly of
matters which nature presents nearly in the state in which
they enter into the composition of the article fabricated. To
discover and fitly combine the complicated elements of this
artificial porcelain required patient research, great chemical skill,
much sagacity, perseverance, and genius ; while the casual dis-
covery of a vein of kaolin and felspar would have at once
enabled any potter, already master of his art, to fabricate the
genuine porcelain.
162

SEVRES PATE TENDRE.

The fabrication of this celebrated pottery commenced in France
about the year 1695, and was continued for more than a century.
The existence of true kaolin in France was not discovered until
1768, when the manufacture of real porcelain was commenced, and
was prosecuted concurrently with the fictitious porcelain until
1804, when the fabrication of the latter was discontinued ; and
since that time the real porcelain only has been produced in the
French Royal Manufactory.

3. Among amateurs in porcelain, including even those who are
otherwise well-informed, there prevails a notion that the art of
fabricating the tender porcelain of Sevres has been lost, and that,
since it is impossible to reproduce the articles, they must neces-
sarily have a high value in the market. This, however, is
erroneous. All the materials and processes for the fabrication of
this description of artificial porcelain are preserved at Sevres,
and the manufacture can be re-established whenever it is
desired to do so. Indeed, we are informed that the Adminis-
tration entertains an intention of recommencing the fabrication
of this description of porcelain for articles of ornament, such
as vases, pictures, &c., the imperfections incidental to it not
affecting such objects.

In 1695, when the first attempt at the fabrication of the pate
tendre was made, the porcelain works at St. Cloud were the
propertv of a private individual named Morin. The invention of
this artificial paste was the result of twenty-five years of labour
and research. It appears, therefore, that this manufacture com-
menced about fifteen years before the discovery of kaolin, and the
commencement of the fabrication of hard or real porcelain at
Dresden.

4. The establishment which has since attained such celebrity as
the Royal Sevres Porcelain AVorks, was previously established at
Yincennes, where it was first conducted as a private enterprise.
In 1753, Louis XV. became joint-proprietor of it, taking a third
share, and gave it the sanction of royal protection, and the title of
the Royal Manufacture of Porcelain. Having attained, about
1754, great celebrity from the extraordinary perfection and
beauty of its productions, and especially for a magnificent service
presented by the king to the Empress Catherine of Russia, the
manufacture enlarging its works, the buildings at Vincennes were
found to be too confined for its more extended operations : and
a site having been obtained at the village of Sevres, on the
highroad from Paris to Versailles, a building on a vast scale
was erected there for the manufacture, which was removed there
in 1756.

A few years later, in 1760, the king purchased the interests of

M 2 163

THE POTTER'S ART.

the other proprietors, and the works became, and have ever since
continued to be, the exclusive property of the Government.

5. It may be easily imagined that the celebrity of the German
porcelain, and more especially that of Dresden, excited the most
lively desire, and the most unceasing endeavours, to discover in
France the precious mineral which alone formed the base of the
genuine article. It was necessary, however, first to ascertain
what the actual material was, which still remained to a great
extent a secret ; and next to discover where, if at all, it could be
obtained in France.

In 1753, just before the removal of the Royal Manufactory
from Vincennes to Sdvres, Paul Hannong, a citizen of Strasburg,
who was proprietor of earthenware and porcelain works at
Hagenau, being in possession of the full knowledge of the
materials and processes of the German porcelain manufacture,
proposed to M. Boileau, director of the manufactory at Yincennes,
to sell to that establishment the secret of the manufacture, for
which he demanded 4000Z. in cash, and a life annuity of 480?.
This proposal being declined, a royal decree in 1754 prohibited
him from carrying on his works in France, and he accordingly
established them at Frankenthal.

Paul Hannong died and was succeeded by his brother Pierre
Antoine, with whom the French Government re-opened the nego-
tiations which had been broken off by reason of the exorbitant
demands of Paul. A greater facility now appearing to be mani-
fested, the ministers of Louis XY. spared no exertion to secure to
France the possession of an art so highly esteemed, and to rescue
the country from the necessity of obtaining only by importation
articles so highly prized. M. Boileau, the director of the royal
works at Sevres, was sent to Frankenthal with full powers, and
the result of his negotiation was a contract signed on the 29th
July, 1761, by which Pierre Antoine Hannong engaged to make
known all the processes and the materials for manufacturing the
true porcelain. Eventually, however, the execution of this con-
tract to the advantage of the French government was rendered
impossible by the fact, not foreseen, that the raw materials, kaolin
and felspar, indispensable for the fabrication of the porcelain, not
having been discovered in France, could only be obtained from
countries where their exportation was prohibited. Under these
circumstances the contract with Hannong was dissolved, the
Government, however, granting him as compensation a sum of
160Z. and a life annuity of 48Z.

6. The time, however, had now arrived when chance was destined
to do for the porcelain manufacture in France what it had done
elsewhere, by leading to the discovery of kaolin.

164

DISCOVERY OF FRENCH KAOLIN.

Madame Darnet, the wife of a village surgeon, residing at
Bt Yrkix, near Limoges, accidentally found in a valley in the
neighbourhood of that town a white unctuous earth, which she
regarded as being capable of being rendered useful in the washing
of linen. With this purpose she showed it to her husband, who,
better informed, suspected other and more valuable properties in
it, and undertook a journey to Bordeaux to submit it to a chemist
of that place, named Yillaris. This person, who had been already
informed of the qualities necessary for porcelain clay, and of the
eagerness with which it was sought for, suspected that the speci-
men brought to him by M. Darnet possessed these qualities. It
was accordingly sent to Macquer, the chemist at Paris, who was
then occupied in experiments on the improvement of porcelain.
He immediately recognised in this specimen of clay the true
kaolin, and went to St. Yrieix in August 1768, where he found
a large vein of this precious material. Experiments were made
upon it upon a considerable scale at Sevres, where all doubts upon
the subject were soon removed ; and the kaolin of St. Yrieix near
Limoges was immediately adopted as the material, and the fabri-
cation of the hard porcelain was commenced.

7. M. Brongniart relates a curious and interesting anecdote
connected with this subject. He says that, in 1825, being at
Sevres, where he was still director, an aged woman addressed
herself to him one day supplicating temporary relief, and appa-
rently suffering from extreme want. She asked for aid to
enable her to return on foot to St. Yrieix, whence she had come.
This woman was Madame Darnet, the discoverer of the kaolin
of Limoges. The relief she sought was immediately given to
her; and, on the application of M. Brongniart, Louis XYIII.
granted her a small pension on the civil list, which she enjoyed
tiU her death.

8. The first English porcelain was manufactured at Bow and
Chelsea, near London, the paste being composed of a mixture of
the sand from Alum Bay, in the Isle of Wight, with a plastic clay
and powdered flint glass ; this was covered with a leaden glaze.
This manufactory had considerable success.

In 1748, the manufacture was transferred to Derby ; and in 1751,
Dr. Wale established at Worcester a manufactory of tender por-
celain, called the " Worcester Porcelain Company," which stil]
exists, though in other hands. To Dr. Wale is attributed the inven-
tion of printing on porcelain, by the transferring of printed patterns
from paper to the biscuit. The proposed design is first engraved
on copper, and the colouring matter being applied to the engraving
in the same manner as in common copper-plate printing, the design
is transferred to paper. This paper is afterwards applied to the

1C5

THE POTTERS ART.

biscuit, to which the colouring matter forming the design adheres.
The paper is then dissolved and washed off, the colouring matter
forming the design remaining upon the biscuit. The biscuit is
then glazed over the design with a glass glaze, so that after vitri-
fication the design appears under the glass.

The original Worcester Porcelain Company principally limited
their business to the manufacture of blue and white porcelain, in
imitation of that of Nankin, and making the Japanese pottery.
Cookworthy, of Plymouth, continued to carry on the porcelain
business at Worcester until 1783, when the manufactory fell into
the hands of Mr. Thomas Flight.

9. About 1751, Messrs. Littler, Yates, and Badrleley attempted
the same manufacture in Staffordshire, but without success, and it
was not until 1765 that Messrs. Baddeley and Fletcher succeeded
in the manufacture of porcelain at Shelton.

The kaolin or china clay, as it is usually called, which is used
in the manufacture of British porcelain, is found in the counties of
Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset. That of Cornwall was discovered
about the same time as that of the discovery of the kaolin of
St. Yrieix, in 1768, by Cookworthy. This is the most esteemed,
and its introduction into the manufacture of porcelain gave a great
impulse to the art.

10. The qualities by which porcelain is distinguished from the
inferior productions of the potter are, density, whitoness, trans-
parency, and fine texture of the glaze. These properties are
estimated in the order wherein they are here enumerated, compact-
ness of body being the point which it is considered most desirable
to attain. The glaze, as seen in the finished porcelain, should not
put on a lustrous appearance ; but while beautifully smooth to the
touch, should present to the eye rather the softness of velvet than
the gloss of satin. This peculiar semblance will only be produced
with glaze that melts with difficulty, and when the heat has been
raised precisely to, and not beyond, the point that is necessary for
its fusion.

1 1 . Stoneware is a very perfect kind of pottery, and approaches
nearer than any other description to the character of porcelain. Its
body is exceedingly dense and compact, so much so, indeed, that
although vessels formed of it are usually glazed, this covering is
given to them more with the view of imparting an attractive
appearance than of preserving them from the action of liquids.
When properly made and baked, stoneware is sufficiently hard to
strike fire from a Hint, and is as durable as porcelain.

12. The translucency of porcelain arises from the vitrification of
one of the constituents of the paste in the process of baking. The
other constituents being much more refractory, the article still

166

ENGLISH PORCELAIN.

r -tains its form, just as a porous vessel such as a flower-pot would,
if it were thoroughly saturated with water. The semi- transparency
of porcelain thus produced is an effect of the same class as that
imparted to paper or linen cloth by saturating it with melted wax.
The vitriliable constituent which thus renders porcelain trans-
lucent is generally the felspar ; in some cases, however, it is lime
which, entering into combination with the alumina and silica of
the clay, forms a double silicate of alumina and lime, more fusible
still than the simple silicate of alumina. The oxide of iron pro-
duces a like effect, but as it gives a colour to the paste, it can only
be used in the commoner sorts of ware. By increasing the propor-
tion of the vitritiable constituent, greater translucency is imparted
to the ware, but the body becomes less plastic, more liable to dis-
tortion, and more difficult to work.

13. It is most necessary to comprehend the distinction between
the hard porcelain, the manufacture of which, as we have stated,
was carried on at a very early date in the East, and the varieties
of tender porcelain. The body of the latter sorts is more fusible than
that of the former. This property is given to it by introducing
into it a larger proportion of alkaline constituents, either in the
form of felspar, or of alkaline silicate, prepared expressly for the
purpose, and called frits. The glaze used for these porcelains is
also more fusible than that of hard porcelain, a quality which it
receives from a certain proportion of the oxide of lead which enters
into its composition.

In certain sorts of tender porcelain no clay whatever is used, and
the entire body consists of an artificial frit. Such ware, however
beautiful it may be rendered in external form and appearance by
tine workmanship and rich ornamentation, cannot properly be
called porcelain at all. It is at best only an ingenious imitation of
that article, bearing to it the same relation as a gilded article bears
to a gold one. Nevertheless, such is the article so much admired
and so highly prized under the denomination of the " Old Sdvres
Porcelain."

14. The English porcelain, and certain sorts still produced in
some of the private manufactories of France, belong to the class of
tender porcelain, though not all identical with, or even resembling,
the Old Sevres Porcelain. The English porcelain is composed chiefly
of clays found in Cornwall, Devon, and Dorsetshire. The Cornish
is the best quality, and is technically termed by potters "china
clay ; " it enters very extensively into the composition of the best
kind of ware. It is the decomposed felspar of the granite, and is
prepared by the clay merchants themselves in Cornwall, prior to its
being sent to the potteries. Huge masses of white granite abound
in Cornwall, which is in some parts found partially decomposed ;

167

THE POTTER'S ART.

and when this is the case, the mineral is raised and prepared for
the potter's use.

15. The following is the method of preparation : — The stone,
having been broken by a pickaxe, is laid in a stream of running
water : the light argillaceous parts are thus washed off and kept in
suspension ; the quartz and mica being separated are allowed to sub-
side near the place where the stone was first raised. At the end of
these rivulets are a kind of catchpools, where the water is at last
arrested, and time allowed for the pure clay with which it is charged
to form a deposit, which, being effected, the water is drawn off ;
the clay is then dug up in square blocks and placed upon a number
of strong shelves, called "linnees," so fitted as to allow of the free
circulation of air, that the clay may be properly dried. Thus pre-
pared, it is an extremely white mass, capable by being crushed to
be reduced to a fine impalpable powder. In this state it is sent to
the potteries under th6 name of China clay.

16. One of the departments of this manufacture, in which
England has of late years gone considerably in advance of the con-
tinent, is that devoted to the fabrication of statuary porcelain.
This beautiful branch of reproductive art has been almost created
within the last six or seven years by some of the most eminent and
enterprising establishments in Staffordshire.

Like all novelties in the arts, this process has undergone a suc-
cession of improving changes. At first the statuary material was
limited to a thin superficial coating laid upon a common body. At
present, however, the object is composed of one homogeneous mass
of statuary porcelain. The articles thus produced are superior in
quality, but much more difficult of manufacture, owing to the
much greater degree of contraction which takes place in the oven,
and the consequently increased chances of distortion and fracture,
especially in pieces of complex form and considerable magnitude.
The contraction of the linear dimensions amounts to as much as a
fourth of the original magnitude, so that a figure, which as moulded
or cast is four feet high, comes out of the oven definitively only
three feet in height, the other dimensions being decreased propor-
tionally. The actual contraction in the cubical dimensions which
corresponds to this is more than one half, so that the baked
materials are included in less than half the space occupied by the
unbaked.

17. The process by which statuary porcelain is produced is that
called casting, and it resembles in many respects that by which
casts of objects are produced in metal.

If the object to be produced is such as can be cast in a single
piece, a mould of its form is made in plaster of Paris, consisting of
two parts which can be united by perfectly plane and smooth

STATUARY PORCELAIN.

surfaces, each part having a sunk impression of one side of the
intended object. A clear enough notion of such a mould may be
obtained from a common bullet-mould.

When the two parts of the mould are brought into contact, it
will leave within it a hollow space corresponding exactly in form
with the intended figure, but having a small opening through
which the liquid may be introduced.

The statuary paste is brought, by mixture with about its own
weight of water, to the consistency of a thick cream, and being
well and carefully mixed, so as to be quite homogeneous, it is
poured into the mould, which is kept full of it for a certain time,
more or less according to the thickness which it is desired to give
to the statuary material composing the object. While it thus
stands, the bibulous quality of the plaster mould causes it to imbibe
water from that portion of the creamy liquid or " slip," as it is
called, which is in contact with it, so that a coating of paste, in a
sufficiently dry state to have coherence, remains attached to the
surface of the mould. Within this is contained that portion of
the slip which still remains in the liquid state. This being dis-
charged through a small hole in the mould, provided for that
purpose, the mould remains lined with a solid coating of the por-
celain paste of a certain thickness.

If it be desired to render the coating upon the mould thicker, so
as to give greater strength and weight to the object moulded, the
process is repeated ; and, in order to equalise the thickness of the
deposit, the mould, if it be not too large, is reversed in its position
each time that it receives a new charge of slip.

When the mould, by this process, has received a coating of
sufficient thickness it is opened, and the object thus cast taken out
of it ; which is easily accomplished, since no adhesion takes place
between its surface and that of the mould.

The thickness of the article thus formed may be varied within
practical limits, from that of the egg-shell to the thickness
required by objects of the largest attainable dimensions. A
beautiful application of this process is practised in the continental
factories, by which a thin, delicate article is produced, called
egg-shell porcelain.

When a large figure, or group of figures, is to be produced, the
process is more complex. Let us suppose its height in the model
to be twenty-four inches. Separate and independent moulds are
previously made for various parts of the piece, and in the larger
and more complex subjects the number of these sometimes amounts
to forty or fifty.

Supposing the figure or group to measure twenty-four inches in
height as moulded, the shrinking that occurs before these casts

169

THE POTTERS ART.

can be taken out of the mould, which is caused by the absorbent
nature of the plaster of which the mould is composed, is equal to
a reduction of one inch and a half in the height. These casts are
then put together by the " figure-maker ; " the seams consequent
upon the marks caused by the subdivisions of the moulds being
carefully removed, the whole is worked upon to restore the cast to
the same degree of finish as the original model. The work is then
thoroughly dried, to be in a fit state for firing, since, if it were
put in the oven while damp, the sudden contraction consequent
upon the great degree of heat to which it would be suddenly
exposed, would be very liable to cause it to crack : in this process
it again suffers a further loss of one inch and a half by evapora-
tion, and it is now but twenty-one inches high. Again, in the
"firing" of the bisque oven, its most severe ordeal, it is dimi-
nished three inches, and is then but eighteen inches high, being
six inches or one-fourth less than the original. It loses, there-
fore, in the entire process, one-fourth of its linear, and therefore
more than one-half of its cubical dimensions. Nevertheless, such is
the consummate skill brought to bear on this beautiful manufacture,
that in good specimens there is not the slightest discoverable
distortion or defect of form or outline.

The perfection to which this branch of the potter's art has
recently attained, is such as to render it probable that it will
eventually be to sculpture what engraving has been to painting,
but with a much closer affinity, identity of colour and texture
being attained, as well as that of outline and design.

18. The enamel colours used in the ornamentation of porcelain
are produced by certain oxydes of the metals combined Avith other
substances, called fluxes, which have the effect of facilitating their
fusion. Thus the oxyde of gold produces tints of red, such as
crimson, rose-red, and purple. Reds are also produced by the
oxydes of iron and chrome. The same oxydes, as well as those of
cobalt and manganese, produce blacks and browns ; those of
uranium, chrome, antimony, and iron produce orange; those of
chrome, and copper, green ; and those of cobalt and zinc, blue.
The fluxes for these various oxydes are borax, Hint, oxyde of
lead, &c.

These colouring materials are worked up with essential oils and
turpentine, and a very great disadvantage under which the artist
labours is, that the tints upon the palette are in most cases
different to those they assume when they have undergone the
necessary heat, which not only brings out the true colour, but also
by partially softening the glaze and the flux, causes the colour to
become fixed to the ware. This disadvantage will be imme-
diately apparent in the case where a peculiar delicacy of tint is
170

A11T OF COLOURING.

required, as in flesh tones, for instance. But the difficulty does
not end here, for, as a definite heat can alone give to a colour a
perfect hue, and, as the colour is continually varying with the
different stup-s of graduated heat, another ri^k is incurred — that
resulting from the liability of its receiving the heat in a greater
or less degree, termed "over-fired" and "short-fired." As an
instance of its importance we will cite rose-colour, or crimson,
which, when used by the painter, is a dirty violet or drab ; during
the process of firing it gradually varies with the increase of heat,
from a brown to a dull reddish hue, and from that progressively to
its proper tint. But if by want of judgment or inattention in the
fireman, the heat is .allowed to exceed that point, the beauty and
brilliancy of the colour are destroyed beyond remedy, and it
becomes a dull purple. On the other hand, should the fire be too
slack, the colour is presented in one of its intermediate stages, as
already described ; but in this case extra heat will restore it. Nor
must we forget to allude to the casualties of cracking and breaking
in the kilns by the heat being increased or withdrawn too sud-
denly, a risk to which the larger articles are peculiarly liable.
These vicissitudes render enamel painting in its higher branches a
most unsatisfactory and disheartening study, and enhance the
value of those productions which are really successful and
meritorious.

In enamelling, ground-laying is the first process in operating on
all designs to which it is applied; it is extremely simple,
requiring principally lightness and delicacy of hand. A coat of
boiled oil adapted to the purpose being laid upon the ware with a
pencil, and afterwards levelled, or as it is technically termed
"bossed," until the surface is perfectly uniform; as the deposit
of more oil in one part than another would cause a proportionate
increase of colour to adhere, and consequently produce a variation
of tint. This being done, the colour, which is in a state of fine
powder, is dusted on the oiled ground with cotton wool ; a suffi-
cient quantity readily attaches itself, and the superfluity is cleared
off by the same medium. If it be requisite to preserve a panel
ornament, or any object white upon the ground, an additional
process is necessary, called "stencilling." The stencil (generally
a mixture of rose-pink, sugar, and water) is laid on in the form
desired with a pencil, so as entirely to protect the surface of the
ware from the oil, and the process of "grounding," as previously
described, ensues. It is then dried in an oven, to harden the oil
and colour, and immersed in water, which penetrates to the
stencil; and, softening, the sugar is then easily washed off,
carrying with it any portion of colour or oil that may be upon it,
and leaving the ware perfectly clean. It is sometimes necessary,

171

THE POTTER'S ART.

where great depth of colour is required, to repeat these colours
several times. The "ground-layers" do generally, and should
always, work with a bandage over the mouth, to avoid inhaling
the colour-dust, much of which is highly deleterious. Bossing
is the term given to the process by which the level surfaces of
various colours, so extensively introduced upon decorated porcelain,
arc effected. The " boss " is made of soft leather.

The process of gilding is as follows : — The gold (which is pre-
pared with quicksilver and flux), when ready for use, appears a
black dust ; it is used with turpentine and oils similar to the
enamel colours, and, like them, worked with the ordinary camel' s-
hair pencil. It flows very freely, and is equally adapted for pro-
ducing broad massive bands and grounds, or the finest details of
the most elaborate design.

To obviate the difficulty and expense of drawing the pattern on
every piece of a service, when it is at all intricate, a " pounce" is
used, and the outline dusted through with charcoal — a method
which also secures uniformity of size and shape. Women are
precluded from working at this branch of the business, though,
from its simplicity and lightness, it would appear so well adapted
for them. Firing restores the gold to its proper tint, which first
assumes the character of " dead gold," its after brilliancy being
the result of another process termed "burnishing." *

19. The ornamentation of the less costly descriptions of ware, such
as are in common use for the table, and in which a single colour
only is used, is accomplished by a process similar to that of copper-
plate printing. There are two methods of effecting this, one called
" press," and the other "bat" printing. In "press" printing
the design is formed on the article before it receives the glaze, and
is afterwards covered and protected by the glaze, through which,
being quite transparent, it is visible. In "bat" printing, on the
other hand, the design is laid upon the glaze, and fixed there by
enamelling it.

In both cases the design is first executed on a copper-plate.
For press printing it must be cut very deep to enable it to hold a
sufficiency of colour to give a firm and full transfer on the ware.
The printer's shop is furnished with a brisk stove, having an iron
plate upon the top, immediately over the fire, for the convenience
of warming the colour while being worked, also a roller, press, and
tubs. The printer has two female assistants, called " transferors,"
and also a girl, called a "cutter." The copperplate is charged
with colour, mixed with thick boiled oil, by means of a knife and
"dabber," while held on the hot stove plate, for the purpose of

* Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition, p. 713.
172

PJRESS AND BAT FEINTING.

keeping the colour fluid ; and the engraved portion being filled,
the superfluous colour is scraped off the surface of the copper with
the knife, which is further cleaned by being rubbed with a
"boss," made of leather. A thick firm oil is required to keep
the different parts of the design from flowing into a mass, or
becoming confused, while under the pressure of the rubber in the
process of transferring. A sheet of paper, of the necessary size and
of a peculiarly thin texture, called " pottery tissue," after being
saturated with a thin solution of soap and water, is placed upon
the copper plate, and being put under the action of the press, the
paper is carefully drawn off again, the engraving being placed on.
the stove, bringing with it the colours and design with which the
plate was charged. The paper is then laid upon the ware, and
rubbed upon it with flannel. During this friction the coloured
design upon the paper is partly imbibed by the unglazed surface
of the ware, and partly remains upon that surface. The article is
then immersed in water, by which the paper being softened, and
partially dissolved, it is easily washed off with a sponge, the
coloured design alone remaining on the surface of the article.
The oil included in the colouring matter is then expelled by
exposure to heat in a kiln, called a hardening kiln, after which
the design being left in perfectly dry colouring matter, the article
is glazed. When covered with the raw glaze, the design is quite
invisible, the glaze being opaque in that state ; but when it is
vitrified in the oven, it becomes quite transparent, and the design
is apparent through it.

The bat printing is done upon the glaze, and the engravings
are for this style exceedingly fine, and no greater depth is required
than for ordinary book engravings. The impression is not sub-
mitted to the heat necessary for that in the bisque, and the
medium of conveying it to the ware is also much purer. Tho
copper plate is first charged with linseed oil, and cleaned off by
hand, so that the engraved portion alone retains it. A prepara-
tion of glue being run upon flat dishes, about a quarter of an inch
thick, is cut to the size required for the subject, and then pressed
upon it, and being immediately removed, draws on its surface
the oil with which the engraving was filled. The glue is then
pressed upon the ware, with the oiled part next the glaze ; and
being again removed, the design remains, though, being in a
pure oil, scarcely perceptible. Colour, finely ground, is then
dusted upon it with cotton wool, and a sufficiency adhering to
the oil leaves the impression perfect, and ready to be fired in the
enamel kilns.

20. It has been the practice at all the great porcelain manu-
factories to stamp upon the bottom, or some other convenient

173

THE POTTEll's AllT.

part not exposed to view, of eacli article fabricated, a peculiar
distinctive mark, by which the place of its manufacture shall be
always capable of being ascertained. It will not be without
interest here to indicate some of the principal of these
marks. \ Y

The Dresden porcelain, manufactured at the royal manu- Y
factory of Meissen, bears the mark of two swords crossed, / \
as here represented. ' \

The English porcelain, manufactured at the celebrated JP-
Chelsea works, is marked with an anchor, thus \\ +

The porcelain manufactured at Derby is marked with the
cypher

The old Sevres porcelain, fabricated from 19th Aug.,
1753, until the fall of Royalty in 1793, is marked
with the cypher

During the Republic, from 1793 until the end of 1800, the
mark over the Sevres porcelain was simply the initials F. R.
From 1800 to 1804 the articles were marked with the characters,
M . lsle (Manufacture Rationale).
Sevres

During the Empire, 1S04 to 1814, the words Manufacture
Imperiale, Sevres, were stamped upon the porcelain.

From the Restoration to the Revolution of 1830, the articles
bore the royal cipher, the double L or double c.

From 1830 to 1834, the symbol of equality, a double equilateral
triangle was used: and from 1834 to the Revolution, 1848, the
articles bore the cipher of Louis Philippe.

By these indications the amateur will be enabled to determine
the epoch of the manufacture of such articles as may fall under
his notice.

21. There is nothing more remarkable in this branch of industry
than the great number and variety of unexpected uses to which
the ingenuity of the manufacturer has rendered it subservient.
At the Great Exhibition of 1851, this was especially conspicuous.
Among the specimens there collected were found, for example,
chimney-pieces of statuary porcelain. The advantages of this
application are numerous and obvious. Among them are great
durability and freedom from the susceptibility of discoloration
and staining to which marble is liable. Plateaux and slabs for
the covering of fire-places, tops of console toilet and chess-
174

APPLICATIONS OF THE A1IT.

tables, panels of doors and window-shutters, tiles for flooring and
walls, terra-cotta for vases and garden pots, are among the many
productions of this art.

Encaustic tiles for ornamental flooring merit especial notice.
This branch of the earthenware manufacture has recently acquired
considerable importance, and an export business of some extent
has been already established in it. Large quantities of this article
are now exported to the United States and the colonies, as well as
to certain parts of Europe. The palace of the Sultan at Constan-
tinople is paved with this tiling, as are also the House of Lords,
Osborne House, and St. George's Hall, Liverpool. This flooring
has got into very general use in churches, private mansions, con-
servatories, &c. It is as durable as marble, less liable to stains,
and can be decorated with any design to suit the taste of the
purchaser.

As a specimen of pottery on a large scale, the figure of Galatea,
seven feet high, is deserving of attention. This claims to be
the largest perfect object in pottery which has yet been produced
in a single piece. Attempts are, we understand, being made,
with some probability of success, to produce it in statuary
porcelain.

Among the ornamental and merely artistic applications of this
art, we must not omit to notice the copies of paintings, often
upon a very large scale, made in enamel colours upon slabs of
porcelain. These beautiful productions of the ceramic art proceed
almost exclusively from the national manufactories of France and
Saxony.

The portraits of the Queen and Prince Albert, which were
exhibited in the great aisle of the Crystal Palace, are fine
specimens of the largest porcelain paintings which have been pro-
duced at the Sevres manufactory. These are half-length portraits
of the size of life, each painted on a single slab of porcelain. They
are copies of the well-known portraits by Winterhalter, and
were executed by order of Louis Philippe, and presented to her
Majesty. These works were commenced before the revolution of
1848, but not finished until after that event. Louis Philippe
claimed them as his private property, and they were surrendered
to him by the Ptepublican Government; but the portrait of
Prince Albert had met with an accident, by which it was broken.
Louis Philippe desired to have another made, but the Queen
would not hear of this expense being incurred ; and the fracture
being repaired at Sevres, the portraits were sent to England and
delivered to her Majesty. The portrait of her Majesty is by
A. Ducluzeau, and that of Prince Albert by A. Bezanget.

Among the splendid collections of paintings and vases exhibited

175

THE POTTERS ART.

by the national manufactory of Sevres, at the Great Exhibition,
the most valuable and most worthy of attention and examination
were the following : —

The painting of the Virgin, known as the Vierge an Voile, by
Madame Ducluzeau, was copied from the celebrated picture by
Rafiaelle in the Louvre. The porcelain is of the same magnitude
as the original, and measures 26 inches by 19. This work
was executed in 1847-8, price 1000/. Another painting after
Tintoretto, on a plate of porcelain 45 inches high, by Madame
Ducluzeau, price 8801. A flower subject on a plate of porcelain,
40 inches high, by M. Jacober, 800/. A portrait of President
Eichardeau, by M. Beranger, 440/. A portrait of Yandyck, by
Madame Ducluzeau, 280/. A painting on a plate of porcelain,
eight inches high, reduced from EafFaelle's "Madonna," by
M. Constantin, 100Z.

176

Fig. 43. — BAKING ROOM IS PORCELAIN WORKS.

THE POTTER'S ART.

CHAPTEE V.

1. Process of tliro\ving. — 2. Turning. — 3. Moulding. — 4. Turning and
Moulding combined. — 5. Glazing. — 6. Bisque firing. — 7. Ovens. -
8. Sevres ovens. — 9. Statistics of pottery.

1. The brief explanation of some of the processes by which
the beautiful productions of this branch of industry are obtained,
which have been given in the preceding pages, will be easily
understood by all persons who may have had the pleasure and
advantage of visiting any of the great porcelain-works. For the
benefit of those who have not been so fortunate, we shall here
give some more developed explanations of the succession of pro-
cesses by which the raw clay is converted into the finished article ;
in doing which we shall avail ourselves of some admirably
executed sketches, showing the interior of some of the principal
workshops of a porcelain factory, which were prepared under the
direction of the late M. Brongniart, director of the Royal porcelain
works of Sevres, and executed by Mr. Charles Develey, an artist

LARDXEB'S MUSEUM OP SCIESCB. s 177

No 26.

THE POTTEK'S ART.

employed in the establishment, who possessed, according to M.
Brongniart, in a high degree, the talent of seizing with the greatest
truth and exactitude the characteristic habits of each class of
operatives, and their peculiar attitudes and movements in the
execution of their work.

It will be remembered that the materials out of which the
potter produces the articles of his fabrication are 1° kaolin, or
china clay, and 2° flints. The former ingredient, as has been
already explained, is prepared by the clay merchant in Cornwall,
or whatever other place the clay is found, and is delivered to the
potter ready to be mixed with the flint earth. But the latter is
prepared from the natural flints in the potteries by the following
process : —

The flint stones are first calcined, and this is effected in a kiln
similar to that used for lime-burning. These stones are separated
by alternate layers of coal, and the burning usually occupies about
twenty-four hours. The flints are then very white and very brittle,
and ready to be crushed by the " stamper," a machine composed
of upright shafts of wood, six feet long, and about eight inches
square, heavily loaded with iron at the lower end, which, by
means of applied power, are made to rise and fall in succession on
the flints, contained in a strong grated box. It is then removed
to the grinding vats, which are from twelve to fourteen feet in
diameter, and four feet deep, paved with chert stone, large blocks
of which, being also worked round by arms connected with a
central vertical shaft, propelled by an engine, become a powerful
grinding medium. This peculiar stone is used because of its
chemical ainnity to the flint, which, therefore, suffers no deterio-
ration from the mixture of the abraded particles, which necessarily
results from the friction, a matter of serious moment. In these
vats the flint is ground in water until it attains the consistency of
thick cream, when it is drawn off and conveyed by troughs into
the washing chamber. Here it undergoes a further purification ;
more water is added, and it is kept in a state of gentle agitation,
by means of revolving arms of wood, thus keeping the finer
particles in suspension while the liquid is again drawn away in
pipes to a tank below. The sediment is afterwards re-ground.
The cleansing process is not yet complete, for when the fluid has
passed into these tanks, to about half their depth, they are filled
up with water, which is repeatedly changed, until it is considered
sufiiciently fine, and free from all foreign matters : it is then fit
for use.

The next process consists in mixing the clay with the flint.
This is accomplished by mixing both with water, so as to give
them a creamy consistency, and to convert them into what the
178

PREPARATION OF THE PA3TE.

potters technically call slip. For this purpose the two slips, that
of clay and that of flint, are successively run off into the blending
reservoir, against the inner side of which are " gauging rods,"
by which the necessary proportion of each material is regulated.
The mixture is now passed into other reservoirs, through fine
sieves on "lawns," woven of silk, and containing 300 threads to
the square inch. A pint of slip of Dorsetshire or Devonshire clay
weighs 24 ounces, of proper consistence : of Cornish clay 26 ounces ;
and of flint 32 ounces. Finally, the slip is conveyed to a series
of large open kilns, heated underneath by means of flues, and
about 9 inches deep. The excessive moisture is thus evaporated,
and in about twenty-four hours the mixture becomes tolerably
firm in substance. It is then cut into large blocks and conveyed
to an adjoining building to undergo the process of "milling."
The mill is in the form of a hollow cone, inverted, with a square
aperture or tube at the lower part. In the centre is a vertical
shaft, set with broad knives. When this shaft is in action (worked
by steam power), the soft clay is thrown in, and forced downwards,
being alternately cut and pressed until it exudes from the aperture
at the bottom, in a perfectly plastic state, and ready for the hand
of the potter.*

The paste thus prepared would serve for the purposes of manu-
facture, but it is found that it may be considerably improved by
leaving it for an interval, more or less protracted, several years for
example, stored in damp vaults or cellars. It suffers a sort of
rotting, becomes black, and evolves an offensive odour of the gas
called sulphuretted hydrogen. These effects are easily explained.
The paste, as prepared, always contains a proportion, however
minute, of organic matter, which the previous preparation has
failed to extricate from it. This matter by the influence of the
humid air, undergoes a spontaneous combustion, and acting upon
some traces of sulphates, which also remain as unextricated
impurities in the paste, transforms them into sulphurets, and
accordingly sulphuretted hydrogen is evolved.

The utility of all these processes, by which the minutest
particles of organic matter are disengaged from the dough, will be
understood when it is considered that even the presence of a single
hair in the dough would be sufficient to spoil completely an article
of porcelain of great beauty and value ; for the organic matter thus
buried in the material being decomposed by the action of the
ovens, a gas would be developed which would produce air-bubbles
or even cracks in the article.

To work the paste, when ready for the manufacture, it is once

Catalogue of the Great Exhibition, p. 718.

»2 179

THE POTTER S ART.

more tempered by the potter, who for that purpose divides it into
balls of convenient size , which he slaps with great force upon his
table. The last air-bubbles are expelled from the dough by this
process.

The formation of the dough into the fabricated article is
effected, either by the processes of throwing and turning on the
wheel, or by moulding, the latter being effected either by pressure
or by casting.

The process of forming the article on the potter's wheel has
been briefly explained in a former chapter. It will be more
clearly comprehended by the aid of M. Develey's sketch of the
thrower and turner's shop, represented in fig. 28 at the head of
Chapter III.

A ball of dough is given to the thrower, A, of sufficient magni-
tude for the piece intended to be made. He places it on the
centre of the circular plaster disc, which is attached to the top of his
wheel, and which revolves with the wheel. By the dexterous appli-
cation of his hands and fingers, the ball of dough passing through
a succession of forms assumes ultimately that which is desired.

Some idea may be formed of this most ancient and charac-
teristic operation of the potter's art by the aid of the diagrams,
fig. 29 to fig. 34.

Let it be supposed that the shape of the vase to be formed is
that represented in fig. 29. It will then be produced in two

Fig. 29.

Fig. 30.

separate pieces, D and E, which after being formed on the wheel
must be united and attached one to another by that general
cement of the potter called SLIP.

A ball of dough, B, fig. 30, sufficient to produce the lower part
D, fig. 29, being placed on the wheel and put in rotation, is shaped
180

THROWING AND TURNING.

by the hands and fingers of the thrower, assuming successively
the forms, c, fig. 31, and D, fig. 32, the shape of the hollow part
or interior being indicated by the dotted line. The traces of the
fingers appear in the spiral lines, d s. The circular disc forming
the top of the wheel is represented at g.

The bail of dough, A, fig. 33, after similar manipulation, takes
the form, E, fig. 34. The parts D and E being united, the super-
fluous part of the dough is turned off so as to give the desired
form to the external surface.

The peculiar attitude of the arms of the thrower, which is well
represented in fig. 28, will be observed to bear a close resemblance
to that represented in the ancient Egyptian drawing, fig. 5.

2. When the thrown ware, as it is called, which is thus pro-
duced, has been rendered sufficiently consistent by spontaneous
air drying, it is transferred to the hands of the turner, who is
represented at B, fig. 28, and who works at a wheel similar to the
ordinary potter's wheel. This operative, by means of a cutting
tool, renders the form of the article more exact and true, and
shaves off all roughness and inequalities by a process precisely
similar to that of turning with the ordinary lathe, only that in the
present case the axis of the lathe is vertical, and the circular
motion imparted to the article horizontal. The shavings which
are detached in this process are mixed with fresh paste, to which
they impart peculiar qualities.

Various tools and accessories appear in the figure, such as the
gauge compasses, calipers, c, by which the diameter of the vase at
different points is measured, the working drawing, d, which gives
him both the profile and the dimensions, the latter being from time
to time verified with the calipers.

181

THE POTTER'S AKT.

3. The moulder's shop is represented in fig. 35, at the head of
Chap. IY.

The work of the moulder consists of two processes ; first, to
impart the desired form to the piece ; and secondly, to adapt and
attach to the principal piece its various accessories, which are sepa-
rately moulded or cast, such as handles, spouts, ears, &c.

The operative, A, places on a marble slab before which he stands
a mass of dough which he flattens with a rolling-pin. Each end
of the pin rests upon a lath by which it is prevented from pressing
the dough below a certain thickness, and which also gives it a
perfectly even motion, so that the cake of dough is not only of
uniform thickness, but has also a perfectly even and uniform
surface. This uniformity of surface on the under side it receives
by pressure on the slab, and on the upper side by the regulated
action of the roller.

Under the cake of dough, and between it and the slab, is pre-
viously spread a cloth, 6, upon which it rests. By means of this
cloth the operative is enabled to raise the dough from the slab
without deranging its form.

The operative, B, having received it from A, thus supported by
the cloth b, places it upon the mould, which, as here represented,
will produce the inner or concave surface of a vase or cup, having
a sort of fluted form. When the mould is completely covered
with the dough, the operative, c, presses the dough strongly upon it
with a sponge, so as to force it into exact contact with the most
minute cavities of the mould. To accomplish this the more easily,
the mould is placed upon the circular slab, p, supported on a
vertical pillar, /, with which it turns freely, so that every side of
the article to be moulded is brought successively under the hand
of the operative.

Plates, dishes, and saucers, and in general the class of articles
denominated "flat ware," are made from moulds, by which the
inside or concave surface of the article is formed. The form is
imparted to the convex surface by means of profiles usually made
of fired clay and glazed. After the proper convex form is given
by the turner c by means of the profile, the mould, with the
article still upon it, is taken to the hot-air chamber, where it
remains till it is tolerably dry. It is then brought back to the
turner c, and the profile is again passed over it, by which the
inaccuracies of form consequent upon shrinkage are corrected.

The operative, G, has just moulded or cast a handle from
which he is removing the superfluous and excrescent parts
with a tool, and cleaning out its cavities. He is about to attach
it to the vase, as he has already done with the other handle.
This he accomplishes by moistening, with the creamy liquid
182

TURNING AND MOULDING.

called slip, the surfaces to be united. This slip acts as a cement,
becoming almost immediately hard enough to retain the handle in
its place.

A number of handles ready moulded or cast are lying on the
slab beside G, ready to be attached to similar articles. Various
plaster moulds appear on the floor near the table.

The convex surface of the article to be moulded is produced in
like manner, by pressing a concave mould upon it. Some of these
concave moulds appear on the floor.

The process of moulding by casting has been explained in the
case of statuary porcelain.

4. The operations of the thrower and moulder are sometimes
abridged by combining them. The apparatus represented in
tig. 36 supplies an example of this.

It consists of a porte-calibre, K, and a copper bar, BE', which
plays on a hinge or pivot, at one extremity, and is supported on a
frame, HH', of wood solidly attached to the table of the wheel. It
is raised and lowered by turning it on the hinge, t, and when
lowered is supported on the upright H7 at t'. The porte-calibre
slides on this, its motion being regulated by a groove. To this is
attached by screws the " calibre," or profile, c, which is formed to
correspond with the shape and mouldings of the article to be
produced.

The mould which gives the form to one side of the article,
(suppose for example the concave or upper surface of a plate,) being
attached to the disc of the potter's wheel, a cake of dough of the
proper magnitude and thickness is laid over it, and pressed upon
it by a wet sponge, so as to cause it to apply itself closely at every
part to the surface of the mould. When this is accomplished the
calibre or profile is lowered gradually upon it, and the wheel
being put in revolution, the convex side or bottom of the plate
receives its form in the same manner as an object placed in the
chuck of a turner's lathe is shaped by a cutting tool guided by
a slide-rest.

183

THE POTTER'S ART.

By this process the article receives a perfectly uniform thickness
and diameter, the edges being subsequently rounded on the wheel
in the usual way.

5. Ware which has received its proper forms by the processes
above described and which has been to a certain degree hardened
by air drying or exposure to a high artificial temperature, is in
what is called by potters the green state. It is completely dry,
all moisture being perfectly expelled from it, but is still very
porous, so that it would readily imbibe water or other liquid
which might be poured into it, or in which it might be immersed.
It is in this state that the process of glazing, already described,
must be executed.

The materials comprised in the various glazes commonly used
for china and earthenware are — Cornish stone, flint, white lead,
glass, whiting, &c. These, having been ground together in proper
proportions to the consistence of milk, form the glaze. The
process is effected in large buildings termed "dipping-houses"
(china and earthenware being kept separate), fitted up with tubs
for the glaze, and stages for the reception of the ware when
dipped, upon which it is dried and heated, generally by means of
a large iron stove or "cockle," from which iron pipes, extending
in various directions, convey the heat throughout the whole
extent of the "houses." Each dipper is provided with a tub of
glaze, in which he immerses the bisque ware. We may note the
results of practice and experience in imparting a facility and
dexterity of handling, so necessary to perfection in this process.
The ware is held so that as small a portion as possible shall be
covered by the fingers ; it is then plunged in the glaze, which, by
a dexterous jerk, is made not only to cover the entire piece, but,
at the same time, so disperses it, that an equal and level portion
is disposed over the whole surface, which, being porous, imbibes
and retains it. The ware is handed to the dipper by a boy, and
another removes it when dipped to the drying or "hot-house."
The glaze is opaque till fired, so that the design of pattern
executed on the bisque is completely hid, after dipping, till they
have been submitted to the glost fire. An able workman will dip
about seven hundred dozen plates in a day.*

The dipping house is represented in fig. 37. The dippers, A, and
B, immerse unglazed plates in the vessel containing the glaze,
which, as already explained, is a creamy liquid in which the
vitrifiable matter is mixed, and held in suspension, just as mud is
in water. When the plate is withdrawn from the glaze it is held
over it so as to allow all the liquid not absorbed by the plate to
drip off, as represented in the case of the dipper B.

* Catalogue of the Great Exhibition, 725.
184

GLAZING.

The females c and D are employed in detaching from articles
which have been dipped the parts of the glaze which are redun-
dant. Thus c scrapes off, with a bladed tool, a portion of the glaze
where it is too thick, or where it remains attached to the surface
in round drops called tears. The other, D, removes with a brush
or a piece of felt the glaze from the circular ring at the bottom of
a plate, that being the part on which it stands when placed in
the oven. If this precaution were not taken, the plate would

Fig. 37.

adhere to the oven by means of the portion of glaze on this circular
edge when vitrified.

"When the articles are thus prepared, they are put into an oven
where they are exposed to a temperature which vitrifies the glaze
upon their surface.

It is necessary that the glaze thus applied to the article should
be such as will vitrify at a temperature lower than that which
would soften the paste of which the article is made, and thus
deform the article itself.

In the figure are seen several tools and utensils used in the
process of glazing. Thus g is the wooden grating upon which the
art tele is left to drip after being withdrawn from the glaze ; t is a

185

THE POTTER S ART.

sieve which is used to strain off any solid impurities which may be
seen floating in the glaze ; p is the spatula used from time to time
to agitate the glaze so as to prevent the pulverulent matter sus-
pended in it from subsiding, and to maintain it of an uniform
consistency. A bottle, 6, contains vinegar, which is mixed in a
certain proportion with the glaze ; a small cup, c, containing liquid
glaze is placed near the female D, who dipping a brush in it
retouches all parts of the article on which the glaze is too thin or
altogether wanting.

6. When the wares have been prepared for the final process of
baking, which is called technically bisque firing, they are carried on
boards as represented in fig. 43, to the " green-house," so called from
its being the receptacle for ware in the " green " or unfired state. It
is here gradually dried for the ovens : when ready, it is carried to
the " sagger-house," in immediate connexion with the oven in
which it is to be fired, and here it is placed in the " saggers : "
these are boxes made of a peculiar kind of clay (a native
marl), previously fired, and infusible at the heat required for
the ware, and of form suited to the articles they are to con-
tain. A little dry pounded flint is scattered between them,
to prevent adhesion. The purpose of the sagger is to pro-
tect the ware from the flames and smoke, and also for its
security from breakage, as in the clay state it is exceedingly

brittle, and when dry, or what
is called "white," requires great
care in the handling. A plate
sagger will hold twenty plates,
placed one on the other, of earthen
ware ; but china plates are fired
separately in " setters" made of
their respective forms. The " set-
ters " for china plates and dishes
answer the same purpose as the
"saggers," and are made of the
same clay. They take in one dish or
plate each, and are "reared" iithe
oven in " bungs " one on the other.

In fig. 38 is represented a pile of saggers containing plates. It
will be perceived that in this case each sagger consists of two
parts, one, 1 1, cylindrical, and the other, i i, having a form corre-
sponding to that of the plate, the rim, at the bottom of which rests
upon it. These saggers are placed one over the other, so as to
form a vertical pile. ,

It will be evident, from what has been here explained, that
the magnitude, form, and internal structure of the saggers
186

Fig. 38.

OVENS.

must vary with those of the articles which they are intended to
contain.

The disposition and arrangement of the piles of saggers in the
oven are represented in fig. 39, some of the piles being represented
in section, to show the arrangement of the articles within the
saggers.

The process of baking highly decorated ornamental articles in
porcelain is a process requiring much greater precaution, and a

Fig. 39.

, _— ^-r-s r~~~"~ • •— -

different sort of apparatus. It is usually effected by means of
special furnaces and saggers, of which an example is presented in
fig. 40. The furnace is constructed in fire-clay or cast-iron, and
the fire is regulated in it with the greatest care. Trial pieces
are from time to time taken from the opening, v, by which the
effect of the firing on the several colours is ascertained.

7. The hovels in which the ovens are built form a very peculiar
and striking feature of the pottery towns, and forcibly arrest the
attention and excite the surprise of the stranger, resembling as
they closely do a succession of gigantic bee-hives. They are con-
structed of bricks, about 40 feet diameter, and 35 feet nigh, with
an aperture at the top for the escape of the smoke. The " ovens"
are of a similar form, about 22 feet diameter, and from 18 to 21
feet high, heated by fire-places, or "mouths," about nine in
number, built externally around them. Flues in connection with
these converge under the bottom of the oven to a central opening,

1S7

THE POTTER'S ART.

Fig. 40.

drawing the flames to this point, where they enter the oven : other

flues, termed "bags," pass up
the internal sides to the height
of about four feet, thus conveying
the flames to the upper part.

When " setting in " the oven,
the firemen enter by an opening
in the side, carrying the saggers
with the ware placed as described :
these are piled one upon another
from bottom to top of the oven,
care being taken to arrange them
so that they may receive the
heat (which varies in different
parts) most suited to the articles
they contain. This being con-
tinued till the oven is filled, the
aperture is then bricked up :
the firing of earthenware bisque
continues sixty hours, and of
china forty-eight.

The quantity of coals necessary
for a "bisque" oven is from 16
to 20 tons ; for a " glost " oven from 4| to 6 tons.

The ware is allowed to cool for two days, when it is drawn in
the state technically termed "biscuit," or bisque, and is then
ready for "glazing," except when required for printing, or a
common style of painting, both of which processes are done on
the "bisque" prior to being " glazed."

8. A porcelain oven of three stages, used in the Sdvres manu-
factory, is represented in fig. 41 and fig. 42, the former being the
exterior view, and the latter a vertical section by a plane through
its centre. Each of the lower stages, L and L', is heated by four
furnaces, from which the flame and heated air is drawn into the
oven through the flues g. Fire-doors of plate-iron are provided,
by which the mouths of the furnaces and ashpits can be closed
or opened at pleasure.

When the several stages of the ovens are charged with the
wares to be baked, the firing is conducted so as to raise the
temperature by slow and regulated gradation. The fires, at first
moderate in their force, are constantly augmented for from
sixteen to twenty hours. "When the oven is thus well heated, the
great firing is commenced by giving full charges of fuel to all the
furnaces. The oven itself, which is cylindrical below, terminating
in a conical roof with an opening at top, governed by a regulating
188

PROCESS OF BAKING.

plate or damper, £, discharges the functions of a chimney, so that
the currents of flame and heated air drawn from the furnaces
severally entering the oven, circulate around the ware with

Fig. 41. Fig. 42.

which it is charged, and rising to the conical roof, H H, escape at
the opening t. The current passes from stage to stage through
orifices, c, c, c, formed in the flooring for that purpose.

The great firing which completes the process of baking is
maintained for ten or twelve hours.

The oven is built with fire-bricks, bound by bracings of iron, as
represented in fig. 41. In each stage there is provided a door, p,
through which the charge and discharge is made, and which
during the process of baking is walled up with brickwork. In

189

THE POTTER'S ART.

this brickwork small holes, ra ra, are left, through which the oven-
man from time to time takes out trial-pieces, which are pieces of
clay of known quality, and which indicate by the effect produced
upon them the progress which the baking has made. When the
appearance of these trial-pieces shows that the firing has been
sufficiently continued, the furnace and ashpit doors and the
damper t are closed, and the oven, with its charge, is left to cool
gradually for twenty-four or thirty hours. It is not necessary to
delay the withdrawing of the pieces from the oven until they
have become quite cold ; but the sudden alteration of temperature
would occasion them to crack if they were taken out while their
heat was greatly above that of the atmosphere.

Some potters are occasionally tempted, when the furnace contains
articles of small value, to risk the damage here mentioned, and to
withdraw the saggers with their contents without delay, their object
being to profit by the heat of the furnace either for introducing a new
charge, or for drying a fresh set of saggers. No one, however, would
be so improvident as to expose the finer descriptions of porcelain to
this hazard, in order to gain any such immaterial advantage.

From the similarity of its appearance to well-baked ship bread,
the ware is now called biscuit. Its permeability to water when in
this state fits it for being employed in cooling liquids. If pre-
viously soaked in water, the gradual evaporation from its surface by
means of the air, causes an absorption of heat from the surrounding
atmosphere, which is again supplied by neighbouring objects,
until an equilibrium of temperature is restored.

9. As there are no excise or other regulations affecting the manu-
facture of earthenware, there are no official documents or records
by which the actual extent of the manufacture can be ascertained
with precision ; but it is estimated that at the Potteries alone the
value of the earthenware produced annually is about 1,700000Z.,
and that the value of the manufactures of Worcester, Derby, and
other parts of the country, may amount to about 750000Z., making
a total annual value of 2,4500002.

The value of the gold consumed annually at the Potteries in the
ornamentation of porcelain is 36400Z., and, since about half that
amount is consumed in the other seats of the manufacture, it may
be stated that the total value of the gold used annually in England
in this manufacture is about 54600Z.

The quantity of coals consumed annually at the Potteries is
468000 tons, and, about half that amount being consumed in
other factories, it may be stated at about 700000 tons — an
amount equal to what is consumed in working all the railways of
the United Kingdom.*

* See Lardner's Railway Economy, p. 83.
190

POTTERY STATISTICS.

Jt appears from the official reports that, in 1841 — the latest
year in which official returns have been made public — the declared
value of the earthenware exported was 600759Z. ; in 1837 the
declared value was 563238?. In the four years ending 1841, an
increase, therefore, took place in this export trade of 37521Z.
upon 563238J. If this same rate of increase only has been main-
tained since 1841, the present annual export trade must have a
declared value of a million sterling.

But, since the declared is known to be on an average one-fourth
less than the true value, we may assume that the present total annual
amount of the export trade in earthenware is about 1,300000?.

The proportion in which this enormous export is distributed among
the different countries of the world is exhibited in the following
table. In the second column is given the proportion of every 100J.
value exported received by each of the countries named in the first
column, and in the third column is given the number of pieces of
ware out of 10000 received by each country respectively : —

Countries.

Per Cent, of
the total
Value.

Per 10000 of
Number of
Pieces.

United States

37-58

3560

North American British colonies

6-95

778

Brazil

6-36

1010

British East Indies ....

5-00

310

British West Indies ....

4-42

387

German States

4-28

401

Holland

4-11

397

Foreign West Indies ....

3-50

396

Australian colonies ....

2-69

216

Denmark

2-31

257

Italy and Italian islands

2-25

145

Sumatra, Java, and Indian islands .

1-39

168

Spain and the Balearic islands

1-08

145

"Western Africa

0-85

73

Cape of Good Hope ....

0-79

64

Channel Islands .....

0-69

65

Turkey

0-67

55

Russia

0-65

40

All other countries ....

14-43

1533

Total

100-00

10000

It appears from this table that the United States is our great
foreign customer for this manufacture, taking in value 37£ per
cent., and in quantity 35£ per cent., of our entire export. Of the
remainder, our North American colonies, Brazil, and India, take
18 per cent.

191

THE POTTER'S ART.

In 1841, our export in this manufacture formed about 30 per
cent, of its estimated total value. We have no returns later, but
it is probable that at present the export forms a much larger pro-
portion of the entire value fabricated.

192

COMMON THINGS.

FIRE.

1. Fire an ancient element. — 2. Combustion. — 3. Fuel. — 4. Carbon. —
5. Hydrogen. — 6. Charcoal fire. — 7. Its effect on the air. — 8.
Experimental illustration of combustion of charcoal. — 9. Combustion
of hydrogen. — 10. How the combustion is continued. — 11. Carbon
burns without flame. — 12. What is flame ? — 13. Combustion of
hydrogen produces water — 14. All combustibles produce carbonic acid
and water. — 15. Carburetted hydrogen. — 16. Carbon renders flame
white. — 17. Olefiant gas. — 18. Light carburetted hydrogen. — 19.
Fire-damp. — 20. Will-'o-the-Wisp. — 21. Experimental illustration. —
•22. Heavy carburetted hydrogen.— 23. Pit-coal— 24. Coal-fire ex-
plained.— 25. Products of its combustion. — 26. Its effect on the air.
— 27. Wood-fuel. — 28. Combustibles used for illumination. — 29.
Their effect on the air. — 30. Construction of grates and chimneys. —
31. Analysis of a common coal-fire. — 32. It warms and ventilates. —
33. Necessity for ventilation. — 34. Injurious effect of plants at night.
— 35. Effect of crowded and brilliantly lighted rooms. — 36. Expla-
nation of the burning of a candle. — 37. And of lamps.

1. Iff the physical theory which prevailed among the ancients,
and which maintained its ground for several thousand years, Fire
was accounted as one of the elements ; that is to say, as a material
LAEDNER'S MUSEUM OF SCIENCE. • 193

No. 22.

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

essence, which with three others, air, water, and earth, con-
stituted all natural bodies.

It was only towards the close of the last century, and within the
lifetime of the elder part of the present generation, that the true
character of fire was discovered.

2. It is now known that fire is neither a distinct substance nor
essence, as supposed by the ancients. It is a phenomenon con-
sisting of the sudden and abundant evolution of heat and light
produced when a certain class of bodies called COMBUSTIBLES enter
into chemical combination with the oxygen gas which, as has been
explained in our Tract on Air, constitutes one of the constituents
of the atmosphere. The term COMBUSTION in the modern nomen-
clature of physics has been adopted to express this phenomenon.

3. The class of combustible substances which are commonly
used for the production of artificial heat is called FUEL. Such, for
example, are pit coal, charcoal, and wood.

Another class of combustibles is used for the production of
artificial light : such, for example, are oil, wax, and the gas ex-
tracted from certain sorts of pit coal, from oil, and from certain
sorts of wood, such as the pitch pine.

4. The principal constituents of all these combustibles, whether
used for the production of heat or light, are those denominated by
chemists CARBON and HYDROGEN.

CARBON is the name given to charcoal when it is absolutely pure,
which it never is as it is obtained by the ordinary industrial processes.
It is in that state combined with various heterogeneous and incom-
bustible substances. In the laboratories of chemists it is separated
from these, and obtained in a state of perfect purity, being there
distinguished from the charcoal of commerce by the name CARBON.

Carbon having never been resolved by any chemical agent into
other constituents, is classed in physics as a simple and elementary
body, which enters largely into the composition of a most numerous
class of bodies which are found in nature, or produced in the
processes of industry, the sciences, and the arts.

5. HYDROGEN has been already very fully described and ex-
plained in our Tract upon Water ; we shall presently explain still
more in detail its leading properties. Like carbon, it is classed as
a simple and elementary substance ; and also, like carbon, enters
largely into the composition of a numerous class of bodies.

6. A quantity of charcoal being placed in a furnace through
which a draught of air is maintained, if a part of it be heated to
redness, the entire mass will soon become incandescent, and will
emit a reddish light, which will be whiter as the air is passed
through it more briskly, and will emit considerable heat. The
charcoal will gradually decrease in quantity, and at length will

194

CHARCOAL FIRE.

disappear altogether from the furnace, under which a small portion,
of ashes consisting of incombustible matter mil remain. If the
charcoal had been pure — that is, if it had been carbon — it would
have altogether disappeared, no ash whatever remaining.

This phenomenon is an example of FIEE. The heat and light de-
veloped during the process here described are commonly called fire.

7. To comprehend what takes place in this process, we must
consider that, as the air passes through the charcoal, the oxygen
gas, which forms one-fifth part of it,* enters into combination
with the pure carbon. A compound is thus formed consisting of
carbon and oxygen. The formation of this compound is attended
with so great a production of heat, that not only the compound
itself, but the charcoal, from which it is evolved, is raised to a
very elevated temperature.

The compound thus produced is a gas called carbonic acid, which
has been already briefly noticed in our Tract on Air.

The air which enters the furnace being a mixture of azote and
oxygen,* that which rises from it after the combustion has been
produced is a mixture of azote and carbonic acid ; the azote having
passed through the furnace without suffering other change than
an increase of temperature, while the oxygen has been converted
into highly heated carbonic acid.

Several questions, however, arise out of this explanation. How
is it known that such combination really takes place between the
carbon and oxygen ? If it do, in what proportion do they com-
bine ? How does it appear that the azote, which forms four-fifths
of the air which passes through the furnace issues unaltered ?

8. To supply satisfactory answers to these questions, it is only
necessary to bring the two constituents of common air separately
into the presence of carbon under the conditions necessary to
favour combination, and to ascertain their weights before and
after the development of the phenomena.

Let a glass flask containing sixteen
grains of oxygen gas be inverted over mer-
cury, as represented in fig. 1, and let a
piece of carbon weighing more than six
grains, supported in a platinum spoon, be
introduced into it by means of a piece of
bent platinum wire ; let the sun's rays,
concentrated by means of a burning-glass,
be then directed upon the carbon through
the glass flask. The carbon will be ignited
by the solar heat, and will burn in the oxygen with great splendour.

* See Tract on Air.

o2 195

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

When the combustion has ceased and the gas contained in the
flask has cooled, it will be found that the mercury in the neck of
the flask 'will stand at exactly the same elevation as it did before
the combustion. The gas contained in the flask has therefore the
same volume as before, nevertheless it is easy to show that it is by
no means the same gas.

In the first place, if it be weighed, it will be found to weigh 22
instead of 16 grains ; and if the unburned residue of the carbon be
weighed, its weight will be found to be 6 grains less than it was
before the experiment. The inference is, that 6 grains of the
carbon have combined with the 16 grains of the oxygen previously
contained in the flask, but that in thus combining, the carbon has
not made any change in the volume of the gas.

If the gas contained in the flask be examined by the usual tests,
it will immediately appear that it is no longer oxygen. No com-
bustible will burn in it, and it will not support life by respiration.
In fine, it will be found to be identical with the noxious gas called
choke-damp, and to possess all the chemical characters of the gas
called CARBONIC ACID.

If the same flask, similarly filled with nitrogen gas or azote,*
be submitted to a like experiment, the result will not be the same.
The solar rays concentrated on the charcoal will still render it
red hot, but it will not burn nor undergo any other change. On
removing the focus of solar rays from it, it will become gradu-
ally cool, and when removed from the flask will have the same
weight as when introduced into it. The azote which fills the
flask will also be found to be unaltered.

It follows, therefore, that the FIHE produced when carbon
burns in common air is nothing more than the heat and light
developed in the formation of carbonic acid, by the combination
of the carbon with the oxygen of the surrounding air, and that
these substances combine in the proportion of 6 parts by weight
of carbon to 16 of oxygen.f

9. It has been already shown}; that hydrogen combines with
oxygen in the proportion of 1 part by weight of the former to 8 of
the latter to form water, and that if the combination be formed in
a pure or nearly pure atmosphere of the gases it is instantaneous
and accompanied by an explosion. If, however, the combination
take place, as it may, in common air, the phenomena will be very
different.

If pure hydrogen, compressed in a bladder or other reservoir,
be allowed to issue from a small aperture, a light applied to it

* See Tract on Air.
f More precisely 6*04 or 6*12 of carbon to 16 of oxygen.

J See Tract on Water.
196

BURNING HYDEOGEX.

will cause it to be inflamed. It burns tranquilly without ex-
plosion, producing a pale yellowish, flame and very feeble light,
but intense heat. This is the effect attending the gradual and
continual combination of the hydrogen, as it escapes from
the aperture, with the oxygen of the surrounding air. It may
be asked why the hydrogen issuing from the aperture does
not combine with the oxygen of the air without the application
of a flame to it ? And also, why being once inflamed by the
application of such a body, its continued application becomes
unnecessary *i

These questions are easily resolved. The hydrogen gas has an
affinity or attraction for oxygen, which is not strong enough to
cause their combination at common temperatures, but when the
temperature of the hydrogen is greatly elevated, its attraction for
the oxygen becomes so exalted, that it enters into instant and
spontaneous combination with it. Now by applying the flame
of & lamp or candle, or any other burning body, to the jet of
hydrogen, its temperature becomes so greatly raised, and its
attraction for oxygen consequently so exalted, that it enters
directly into combination with the oxygen of the air which is
in immediate contact with it at the moment.

10. But it is also asked, How the continuance of the combina-
tion and the consequent maintenance of the flame takes place — the
candle or lamp which produced its commencement being with-
drawn ? This is explained by the great quantity of heat produced
by the combination of the hydrogen with the oxygen. The com-
mencement of the combination being produced by the candle or
lamp, the hydrogen and oxygen themselves in the act of com-
bining develop an intense heat, and the succeeding portion of
hydrogen gas being in contact with them becomes heated and
combines like the former with a fresh portion of oxygen. In the
same manner, the heat developed by these being shared by the
succeeding portion of gas, a further combination and development
of heat takes place, and so on. Thus the combustion being once
commenced, the heat necessary for its maintenance and contin-
uance is developed in the process itself, which accordingly goes on
without the necessity of being again kindled by the application of
any flame.

The continuance of the combustion of carbon, whether in pure
oxygen gas or in common air, is explained in the same manner.

11. The combustion of carbon differs from that of hydrogen in
this, that the former takes place without the production of flame.
The charcoal being heated to redness, and still in the solid form, enters
directly into combination with the oxvgen of the surrounding air,
and the carbonic acid which is formed being a gas which is not

197

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

luminous nor visible, the carbon disappears. But in the case of
hydrogen, the heat produced by the combustion is so intense as to
render the gas itself luminous, just as intense heat will render a
mass of iron red hot or white hot. When gas becomes thus
luminous it is called flame.

12. Flame, therefore, must be understood to be nothing more
than matter in the aeriform, gaseous, or vaporous state, rendered
so intensely hot as to be incandescent, and to emit light, just as
would a bar of iron taken from a furnace.

13. It is easy to show that, comforrnably with what has been
already demonstrated in our Tract on Water, the product of the
combustion of hydrogen is the vapour of water, which by exposure
to cold can be reduced to the liquid state.

If a glass jar be held over a jet of inflamed hydrogen, as repre-
sented in fig. 2, the aqueous vapour formed by the combination of
the hydrogen with the oxygen of the surrounding air, will be con-
densed upon the inside of the jar, and will appear first as a
cloudy dew upon it, and, as the process is continued, it will
increase in quantity, and, trickling down the side of the jar, may
be received in drops by a dish placed beneath it.

Fig. 2.

14. As we have stated above, the principal constituents of every
species of combustible, whether used for heating or lighting, are
carbon and hydrogen, and the products of their combustion are
therefore carbonic acid and water, the latter being evolved in the
form of vapour.

15. It happens, however, rarely that the hydrogen is evolved in
the pure state. It is more generally combined with a certain dose
of carbon, forming a compound gas called CAEBTJEETTED HYDEOGEJT .
This gas burns with a much whiter and more luminous flame than
that of pure hydrogen, and it is therefore much better fitted for
the purpose of illumination.

16. That the flame owes its whiteness and illuminating power
to the carbon with which the gas is charged, is proved by the fact,

198

FIRE-DAMP — WILL ()' THE WISP.

that the more carbon the gas is charged with the whiter and
brighter is the name.

17. There are two sorts of carburetted hydrogen, one of which
contains twice as much carbon as the other : the one called light
carburetted or proto-carburetted hydrogen, and the other heavy
carburetted or bi- carburetted hydrogen, or olefiant gas.

18. In light carburetted hydrogen 6 parts, or more exactly 6'12
parts by weight of carbon are combined with 2 of hydrogen, and heavy
earburetted hydrogen contains twice that proportion of carbon.

Light carburetted hydrogen is a little more than half the weight
of its own bulk of common air. When pure it has no odour ; and it
burns with a yellowish flame much more him in mis than that of
pure hydrogen. Like pure hydrogen it forms a highly explosive
mixture when combined in a certain proportion with common air,
or, more properly, with the oxygen of common air, since the azote
has no influence on the phenomenon.

19. It is this gas which, under the name of FIKE-DAMP, produces
occasionally such disastrous explosions in coal mines. Being con-
tained in large quantities in the fissures and interstices of the seams
of coal, it issues from them in the workings of the mines, and being
one half lighter than common air, it first collects at the top of the
working. After a certain time, by a common property of all
gases, it mixes with the air, and attains occasionally that propor-
tion which renders it explosive. If a light be brought into it
in this state an explosion takes place, producing those destructive
consequences to the operatives who happen at the moment to be
present, with the details of which the public has been so often
rendered familiar.

20. This gas is also that which over marshy ground and stagnant
pools produces the appearance called WILL o' THE WISP, JACK o'
LANTHORN, or ignis fatuus. The gas is produced by the decompo-
sition of vegetable and animal, matter, and rising from the ground or
from the water is spontaneously ignited.

21. It is easy to verify this by
actually collecting the gas from
any stagnant pool. For this
purpose, take a common funnel
used for decanting liquors, and
a bottle or beer glass ; immerse
the latter in the water, and,
when it is filled, invert it under
the water and raise it above the
surface, keeping the mouth under

the water. Then bring the inverted funnel under its mouth, the
neck entering the bottle or glass ; agitate the funnel, and the gas

199

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

mil rise from the water in bubbles and will collect in the upper
part of the bottle or glass.

The manner of performing this experiment is shown in fig. 3.

When the gas is thus collected its inflammable nature may be
ascertained by applying a light to it as it issues from the bottle.

22. Heavy carburetted hydrogen burns with a much whiter and
more luminous name. Its weight is very nearly equal to that of
common air, and, therefore, nearly double that of the light car-
buretted hydrogen ; hence it has acquired the epithet " heavy."

The products of the combustion of both sorts of carburetted hy-
drogen are carbonic acid and water, the former proceeding from the
combination of the carbon, and the latter from that of the hydrogen
with the oxygen of the air.

These points being understood it will be easy to render intel-
ligble the effects which are developed in all ordinary cases in which
PIEE or COMBUSTION takes place.

23. The species of combustible used as fuel with which we
are most familiar in this country is TIT COAL.

This mineral, exclusive of some extraneous and incombustible
ingredients which it contains in very small proportions, consists of
carbon and carburetted hydrogen of both kinds.

The proportion of carbon varies in different sorts of coal from
80 to 90 per cent., the hydrogen varying from 3 to 6 per cent.,
and the remainder consisting of oxygen and azote.

In tLv heavy coal of Wales, called anthracite, the proportion of
carbon is aoove 90 per cent., while that of the hydrogenous gases
is only 3 or 4 per cent. In the bituminous coal of Northumber-
land the proportion of carbon is about 87 per cent., and that of
hydrogen from 5 to 6 per cent.

24. When a fire composed of such fuel is properly kindled and
supplied with a draught of air necessary to sustain the combustion,
the carbon will continue to combine with its proper proportion of
oxygen, producing the corresponding quantity of heated carbonic
acid, and rendering the solid part of the fuel red and luminous ;
and the hydrogenous gases will at the same time combine with their
respective proportions of oxygen, producing carbonic acid and
watery vapour, and rendering the gases as they issue from the
fuel luminous, or, what is the same, converting them into flame.

The flame will be faintly luminous and bluish if any part of
the gases be pure hydrogen, it will be yellowish and a little more
luminous if they be light carburetted hydrogen, and it will be
very white and very luminous if they be heavy carburetted
hydrogen.

Thus all the phenomena exhibited by a common coal-fire, —
the red unflaming fuel — the faint blue flames occasionally seen,
200

COMMON COAL F1KE.

— and, in fine, the white brilliant flame which most commonly
issues from the fissures of the coal, are severally explained and
accounted for.

25. It has been shown that in combustion 6 parts, by weight,
of carbon combine with 16 of oxygen, or, what is the same, 1 part
with 2$. It has also been demonstrated, that in the combustion
of hydrogen, 1 part by weight of that gas combines with 8 of
oxygen. Now by these simple numerical data may be easily
explained the effects of a common coal-fire upon the air which
feeds and sustains it.

26. It is thus found, that in burning 10 Ib. of coal the oxygen
contained in 1551 cubic feet of air is altogether absorbed.

To keep the atmosphere of a room in which a fire of such coal
is burned fresh and pure, it would be, therefore, necessary to
supply fresh air at the rate of 155 cubic feet for every pound of
coal which is burned.*

27. Wood is a combustible generally used for the production of
artificial heat in countries where coal is not so cheap and abun-
dant as in England. This fuel, like coal, consists principally of
carbon and hydrogen in various proportions, according to the sort
of wood. All kinds of wood contain also a proportion of oxygen,
as a constituent, much greater than is found in coal.

"Wood, when green, contains a considerable proportion of water.
In the combustion of such wood, a large proportion of the heat
developed is absorbed in the evaporation of this water, and is,
therefore, lost for heating purposes. Wood used as fuel should,
therefore, be kept until this water, or the chief part of it, has
been evaporated. For the same reason wood kept for fuel should
be as little exposed to moisture or damp as possible.

28. All fatty, oily, and waxy substances are combustible,
whether in the liquid or solid state. They consist of the same
constituents as coal and wood, but combined somewhat differently,
and in different proportions. Most of this class, burning with
flame of more or less brilliancy, are used for the purposes of
artificial illumination.

Whale, sperm, olive, and cocoa-nut oils, wax, spermaceti, and
tallow are examples of this class of combustibles.

29. Whatever be the sort of combustible, or whatever be the
purpose to which it is applied, whether for heating or lighting, it
will be evident from the explanations which have been here given,
that the combustion cannot be maintained with the necessary

* In the preceding explanation we have omitted to take into account the
effect of a small proportion of oxygen which enters into the composition of
coal. This, however, is so insignificant, that it would be needless to
complicate the calculation by introducing it.

201

COMMON THINGS — FI11E.

Fig. 4.

activity unless expedients be provided for the supply of the
quantity of oxygen which must enter into combination with it.
30. The construction of grates, stoves, and chimneys is therefore

designed to attain this end by
causing such a volume of common
air to pass through the fuel as is
necessary and sufficient to combine
with it. The more air which thus
passes through the fuel, the more
rapid and abundant will be the
combination, and the more active
and vivid the combustion.

31. The current of air which
passes through a common grate is
produced by the draught of the
chimney. The column of air in-
cluded in the chimney, being
raised to a higher temperature
than that of the external air, is
rarefied and lighter, bulk for
bulk, than the external air, and
is proportionately more buoyant.
It has therefore a tendency to
ascend like that which oil would
have in water. As it ascends the
air from the room must rush in
to fill its place. A part of this
air will pass through the bottom
and front of the grate, and a part
will enter at the opening of the
fire-place over the grate. This
will be more easily understood by
fig. 4. The front of the grate is
A B, and the bottom B c, having
the ash-pit below it. The opening
over the grate is A i, and E P G 11
is the flue of the chimney. The
ascensional force of the column of
air in the flue is measured by the
difference between its weight and
that of an equal volume of the
external air. The air which re-
places that which ascends in the
flue enters the bottom B c, the
front B A of the grate and the
202

COMMON FIRE.

opening A i above it, as indicated by the arrows. The former
portions, passing through the burning fuel, supply to it the
oxygen gas necessary to combine with it, and thus maintain the
combustion. These portions after passing through the interstices
of the fuel, and after the oxygen or a part of it, has combined
with the fuel, issue from the top of the fuel, being then a mixture
of azote, such portion of oxygen as may not have combined with
the fuel, carbonic acid and aqueous vapour, the latter being the
products of the combination of the oxygen with the carbon and the
hydrogen of the fuel.

All these gases issuing from the burning fuel at a high tem-
perature, and mixing with the cold air which enters the chimney
through the opening A I, render the column of air in the flue so
warm as to give it the buoyancy necessary to sustain the draught.

When the fire is first kindled in the grate, if the air in the
chimney have the same temperature as the external air, it will
have no buoyancy, and there will be no draught. In this case
the chimney will generally be found to smoke. This inconvenience
may be sometimes removed by opening the windows, so as to fill
the room with air as cold as the external air, and therefore
colder than the air in the chimney. If, however, this be found
insufficient, the air in the flue may be warmed and the necessary
draught produced by holding under the chimney any blazing
combustible.

The draught through the grate may be greatly increased in
intensity by stopping up, either partially or completely, the opening
A I. By this expedient, all the air necessary to replace that which
ascends in the chimney must pass through the fuel in the grate.
If the magnitude of the opening be for example three times the
magnitude of the front and bottom of the grate, four times as
much air will thus pass through the fuel as would pass through it
when the opening AF is not closed, supposing the draught in the
chimney to be the same in both cases.

But, in fact, the draught in the chimney will be greatly
augmented by this process : for, so long as the opening A I is not
closed, the air which fills the chimney will consist of a mixture of
that which passes through the burning fuel, which is raised to a
high temperature, and the much larger portion which passes into
the chimney through the opening A I, and which, being cold,
lowers the temperature, and therefore diminishes the buoyancy of
the air in the chimney. But when all the air which passes
through A I, by closing that opening, is made to pass through the
burning fuel, it is raised to a high temperature, which not being
lowered by admixture with any air not passing through the fuel,
fills the chimney with air raised to a very elevated temperature,

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

and which therefore produces in the chimney a much stronger
upward current.

Thus the effect of closing the opening A I is to stimulate the fire
not only hy causing to pass through it all the air which previously
entered the opening A I, but also by augmenting the draught in
the chimney.

32. From what has been explained above, it will be perceived
that an open fireplace such as is represented in fig. 4 serves the
double purpose of warming and ventilating.

All the air which enters the chimney, whether it passes through
the grate or through the opening above the grate, must be replaced
by an equal volume of fresh air from without, which must find its
way through the interstices of doors and windows, or through
other openings provided expressly for its admission. That part of
the air which passes through the grate subserves the double
purpose of warming and ventilation. It warms by stimulating
and maintaining the combustion of the fuel, and it ventilates by
leaving in the room a void into which an equal volume of fresh
air must enter. That portion of air which enters the chimney
through the opening above the grate has no effect direct or indirect
in warming, but its effect in ventilating is just so much greater
than that of the air which passes through the grate, as the magni-
tude of the opening above the grate is greater than the magnitude
of the spaces between the bars in the front and bottom of the grate.

33. The necessity for ventilation is so much the greater as the
room is smaller and lower, and as the causes of the pollution of
its air are more numerous and active. The air of a room is de-
prived of its oxygen and rendered unfit for respiration by several
causes. Each person who is present in the room absorbs oxygen
by respiration. It is calculated that an adult of average size
absorbs about a cubic foot of oxygen per hour by respiration, and
consequently renders five cubic feet of air unfit for breathing. It
is also computed that two wax or sperm candles absorb as much
oxygen as an adult. It follows, therefore, that to keep the air of
a room pure, five cubic feet for every person, and two and a half
cubic feet for every candle in the room should pass per hour into
the chimney, or through some other opening, and an equal volume
of fresh air should be admitted.

34. Plants give out oxygen by day, but absorb it by night.
Their presence in a room by day is therefore innocuous, but at
night they have the effect of polluting the air, and should never
be admitted except where there are ample means of ventilation.

35. A crowded room, illuminated with many candles and lamps,
and, as generally happens, without a fire, soon becomes filled with
air in which there is a deficient pr-oportion of oxygen and a

204

CANDLES.

Fig. 5.

I

A *

corresponding volume of carbonic acid, unless means be provided,
which is rarely the case, for other ventilation besides that of the
chimney. Hence it arises that per-
sons of delicate habits, especially
those whose lungs are defective, in
such a room, soon become sensible
of general uneasiness, and are
often affected with headache.

36. The manner in which the
flame of lamps and candles is
produced and maintained will
require some explanation.

When a candle is lighted, the
heat developed at the extremity
of the wick melts the wax or
tallow immediately below it, and
thus liquefied, it is drawn up
through the insterstices of the
wick by the force called capillary
attraction. When it comes in
contact with the flame, it boils,
and is converted into vapour,
which rises over the wick. This
vapour having a very high tem-
perature, and exercising a strong
attraction for the oxygen* of the
surrounding air, enters into com-
bination with it, and becoming
luminous, forms the flame around
and above the wick. "Within the
flame arises a constant current of
the vapour of the combustible, and
outside it currents of air carry to
the surface of the flame the oxygen
which produces the combustion
and the light. The combustible
vapour and the oxygen meeting
at the surface of the flame, there
enter into combination, and the
vapour burns. Within the flame
no combustion takes place, and no
light is produced.

In fig. 5 the wick and flame are
represented. Within the flame

currents of combustible vapour proceed from the wick to all parts

205

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

of the surface of the flame. The arrows at the sides of the flame-
outside its surface represent the currents of the surrounding air
produced by the heat of the flame ; the oxygen, being attracted
by the intensely heated combustible vapour, approaches it, and,
by combining with it, sustains the combustion and produces
the light. The arrows above the flame indicate the current of
heated air, carbonic acid and aqueous vapour, the products of
the combustion which form an ascending column above the
flame.

It will be apparent from what has been here stated, that the
luminous part of the flame is merely superficial. The vapour
within the surface of the flame not having yet come into contact
with the oxygen, and therefore not having entered into com-
bustion, cannot be luminous. The flame, therefore, so far as
relates to light, is hollow, or rather it is a column of combustible
vapour, the surface being the only part which burns, and there-
fore the only part which is luminous. As this vapour ascends
from the interior of the flame, it comes successively into contact
with the oxygen of the air, is burnt, and becomes luminous, the
column of light gradually contracting in diameter until it is
reduced to a point. The flame thus tapers to a point until all the
vapour produced by the boiling matter on the wick receives its due
complement of oxygen, and passes off. It speedily loses that
high temperature which renders it luminous, and the flame
terminates.

37. In lamps of various construction, expedients are adopted
to increase the magnitude of the luminous surface of the flame,
and the intensity of the combustion. This is effected by modify-
ing the form and magnitude of the wick, by feeding it with an
abundant supply of oil, and by maintaining strong currents of
air at all parts of its surface to sustain the combustion.

The most common form of wick used for lamps of strong illu-
minating power, is that of a hollow cylinder, varying from an
inch to three inches in circumference. This wick being attached
at its base to a small thin ring of metal is let down into the
reservoir of oil, through a space included between two concentric
tubes, one of which has a less diameter than the other, the space
between them being a little wider than the thickness of the wick.
The wick is from two and a half to three inches long, and descends
through this space between the tubes to a certain depth. This
space communicates with the reservoir of oil from which the oil is
forced up either by the action of a pump worked by a main spring,
through the intervention of wheelwork, as in the Carcel lamp, or
by the more direct action of a strong spiral spring as in the
Moderator lamp, or by the pressure of oil contained in a reservoir
206

LAMPS.

above the level of the wick, as in the old English ring-lamp called
the Sinumbral lamp, and a variety of other forms constructed on
me like principle.

The flame issuing from such a wick is obviously a hollow
cylinder, and requires to be fed with air, both at its exterior
and interior surfaces. A current of air in contact with the
interior surface of the flame is maintained by carrying the
lesser of the two tubes between which the wick is included,
down through the burner, and leaving it in communication
with the external air. The exterior of the flame is exposed to
the air and produces currents by its own heat, in the same
manner as the currents already described, surrounding the flame
of a candle.

But in the case of lamps with cylindrical burners these currents,
both exterior and interior, are greatly augmented in intensity
by the addition of a cylindrical glass- chimney of considerable
height, the inner diameter of which a little exceeds the exterior
diameter of the wick. This Chimney being open at its base, and
confining a column of air of its own height, acts upon the combustion
of the lamp exactly as a common chimney acts on the combustion
of fuel in a grate. The air which enters at the bottom, between this
chimney and the burner, rises in a cylindrical current around the
exterior of the wick, and passing in contact with the exterior surface
of the combustible vapour proceeding from the oil, ignites it at that
surface. The column of air which ascends at the same time
through the inner tube passing in contact with the inner surface
of the vapour ignites it in like manner. ' In this manner, a thin
cylinder of oily vapour rising from the wick is kept in a state of
vivid and constant combustion, both on its interior and exterior
surfaces.

The force of these currents, exterior and interior, depends on the
buoyancy of the column of air included in the chimney, and which
also extends to a considerable height above it. The air after pas-
sing the flame of the lamp, being at a very high temperature,
the glass-chimney itself becomes intensely hot. The column of
air within the chimney being thus heated, it ascends to a consider-
able height above the chimney before it is cooled down to the tem-
perature of the surrounding air. The force of the draught which
maintains the currents around the flame is then determined by the
difference between the weight of the column of air, extending
from the base of the chimney to that height above it, at which the
temperature of the ascending column becomes equal to that of the
external air, and the weight of an equal volume of the external
air.

This explanation of the combustion of the oil in a cylindrical

207

COMMON THINGS — FIRE.

Fig. 6.

burner will be more clearly comprehended by reference to fig. 6,
where c c represents the interior, and A A the exterior tube,

between which the wick is in-
cluded. The oil is forced up to the
wick in the space between these
tubes ; a H G H is the chimney,
open at the base B B. The air
ascends as indicated by the arrows
between G H and D A, and passes in
contact with the external surface
of the flame, and it rises through
the internal tube c c, passing in
contact with the internal surface
of the flame, as indicated by the
arrows. The cylindrical flame,
ascending from the wick, is repre-
sented at AMOK", and the course
of the ascending column in the
chimney is represented by arrows.

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DR. SMITH'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARIES.

SMITH'S DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN
GEOGRAPHY.

BY VARIOUS WRITERS.

Illustrated with Coins, Plans of Cities, Districts, Battles, &c.

Medium 8vo.
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SMITH'S DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN
ANTIQUITIES.

BY VARIOUS WRITERS.

Second Edition, 500 Woodcuts, medium 8vo, 42s.

SMITH'S DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN
BIOGRAPHY AND MYTHOLOGY.

BY VARIOUS WRITERS.

500 Woodcuts, 3 vols. medium 8vo, 51. 15s. 6d.

SMITH'S NEW CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF MY-
THOLOGY, BIOGRAPHY, AND GEOGRAPHY.

Compiled and Abridged from the larger Works,
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SMITH'S SMALLER CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.

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SMITH'S SMALLER DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND
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The DICTIONARIES OF GREEK AND ROMAN BIOGRAPHY, and the NEW
CLASSICAL DICTIONARY, will be found of great value to the Student of Theology
and Ecclesiastical History, furnishing, as they do, Lives of the Fathers, with an
account of their works ; while the DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN GEO-
GRAPHY and the NEW CLASSICAL DICTIONARY contain descriptions of the
various places mentioned in the New Testament.

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1. Introductory (Notation of Mu-

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2. Vocal Exercises.

3. Ditto.

4. Ditto (Canons).

5. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

6. Welcome to School.

7. Come and see how Happily.

8. Perseverance ; or, Try Again.

9. Improve the Passing Hours.
10. Multiplication Table— 1st Part,

11. The Pence Table ; and Procras-

tination.

12. The Peace-Maker.

13. We all Love one another ; and

We'll go to our Places.

14. How the Wind is Blowing ; and

Early to Bed and Early to
Rise.

15. Over the Water from England

to France.

16. The Nursery Jest; aud the

Alphabet.

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17. Tit for Tat; and Hot Cross

Buns.

18. Play-hours.

19. The Kind Heart.

20. Come Let us Sing; and the

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21. The Linnet.

22. The Harmonious Blackbird.

23. The Praise of Spring.

24. The Sluggard.

25. Neatness and Cleanliness ; and

Work away.

26. Time for Rest ; and Good night.

27. Sunrise.

28. Bells Ringing.

29. The Love of Truth ; and for Age

and Want.

30. In the Cottage.

31. The Cricket Song.

32. Absent Friends ; & When we go

out together.

33. Ere around the Huge Oak ; and

Harvest Home.

34. March and lift up your Voices ;

and Idleness and Knavery.

35. Lullaby ; and the Hour is come

of Twilight Grey.

36. The Stormy Winds.

37. Our Native Land.

38. The Labourer's Song.

39. Home, Home ; and Rejoice,

Rejoice.

40. If you Get into Debt.

41. Britons Arise ; and The Golden

Rule.

42. Rule, Britannia !

43. The National Anthem; and Now

let Notes of Joy Ascending.

44. Farewell.

Hymn and Psalm, Tunes, with Words suitable for
Sunday Schools.

45. Sicilian Mariners ; and War-

wick.

46. Devizes ; and Stonefield, or

Doversdale.

47. Evening Hymn ; and Hanover.

48. Stephens ; and the German

Hymn.

49. Grove ; and Cranbrook.

50. Falcon Street ; and Deritend.

51. Martin's Lane ; and Staughton.

52. Hart's ; and Job.

53. Melbourne Port; and Matthias.

54. Rousseau's Dream ; and Irish.

55. Sandgate ; and Contemplation.

56. Hawies, or Mount Calvary ; and

Auburn.

57. Eaton ; and Carey's.

58. Adoration.

59. Gabriel New ; and Prospect.

60. Lowell ; and Fairseat.

61. Lonsdale; and Calvary.

62. Lydia ; and Button Colefield.

63. Arabia; and Old Hundredth.

64. Peru ; and Condescension.

65. Horseley ; and Compassion.

66. Suffolk ; and Hephzibah.

67. Bradley Church ; and Portugal

New.

68. Piety ; and Knaresborough.

69. Wigan ; and The Passing Bell.

70. Newport ; and Easter Hymn.

71. Vesper; and Admiration.

72. Jude's Doxology; and Mile's

Lane.

73. Helmsley ; and Evans.

74. Nativity ; and Monmouth.

75. Westbury Leigh ; and New

Victory or Wimpole.

76. Hallelujah, Amen, and Triumph.

77. Refuge.

78. Calcutta ; and Shu-land.

79. Portsmouth New ; and Joyful.

80. Tucker's or Leigh ; and Repose.
81-82. Welcome ; and a Man is a

Man for all that.

83-84. When the Rosy Morn appear-
ing ; and the Might with the
Right.

85. God Speed the Right.

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ILLUSTRATED HISTORIES OF ROME AND
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DR.SCHMITZ'S HISTORY OF ROME ; from the Earliest

Times to the Death of Commodus. New Edition, Illustrated by
100 Engravings on Wood. 12mo. 7s. 6d. cloth.

DR. SMITH'S HISTORY OF GREECE ; with Supple-

mentary Chapters on the Literature, Art, and Domestic Manners
of the Greeks. Woodcuts and Maps, 12mo. 7s. 6d. cloth.
' ' A good plan capitally executed, is the characteristic of Dr. Smith's
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DR. LATHAM'S HAND-BOOK OF THE ENGLISH

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DR. LATHAM'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE USE

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